diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 7fb8c5363..0beaef506 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -69,6 +69,12 @@ GNU coreutils NEWS                                    -*- outline -*-
 
 ** Improvements
 
+  cp --sparse=auto (the default), mv, and install,
+  will use the copy_file_range syscall now also with sparse files.
+  This may be more efficient, by avoiding user space copies,
+  and possibly employing copy offloading or reflinking,
+  for the non sparse portion of such sparse files.
+
   date --debug now diagnoses if multiple --date or --set options are
   specified, as only the last specified is significant in that case.
 
diff --git a/src/copy.c b/src/copy.c
index e465271ef..7407517f1 100644
--- a/src/copy.c
+++ b/src/copy.c
@@ -526,12 +526,12 @@ lseek_copy (int src_fd, int dest_fd, char **abuf, size_t buf_size,
       last_ext_len = ext_len;
 
       /* Copy this extent, looking for further opportunities to not
-         bother to write zeros unless --sparse=never, since SEEK_HOLE
+         bother to write zeros if --sparse=always, since SEEK_HOLE
          is conservative and may miss some holes.  */
       off_t n_read;
       bool read_hole;
       if ( ! sparse_copy (src_fd, dest_fd, abuf, buf_size,
-                          sparse_mode == SPARSE_NEVER ? 0 : hole_size,
+                          sparse_mode != SPARSE_ALWAYS ? 0 : hole_size,
                           true, allow_reflink, src_name, dst_name,
                           ext_len, &n_read, &read_hole))
         return false;