diff --git a/pkg/storage/engine/pebble.go b/pkg/storage/engine/pebble.go
index 099ceb28ebe9..9a33f1e739d3 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/engine/pebble.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/engine/pebble.go
@@ -1017,5 +1017,11 @@ func pebbleExportToSst(
 		return nil, roachpb.BulkOpSummary{}, err
 	}
 
+	if rows.BulkOpSummary.DataSize == 0 {
+		// If no records were added to the sstable, return an empty sstable. This
+		// is used by export code to avoid ingestion of empty sstables.
+		return nil, roachpb.BulkOpSummary{}, nil
+	}
+
 	return sstFile.Data(), rows.BulkOpSummary, nil
 }