diff --git a/doc/source/statuses.rst b/doc/source/statuses.rst
index 431913639a..0dd1fc3581 100644
--- a/doc/source/statuses.rst
+++ b/doc/source/statuses.rst
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ Images in Glance can be in one the following statuses:
 * ``queued``
 
   The image identifier has been reserved for an image in the Glance
-  registry. No image data has been uploaded to Glance.
+  registry. No image data has been uploaded to Glance and the image
+  size was not explicitly set to zero on creation.
 
 * ``saving``
 
@@ -34,7 +35,9 @@ Images in Glance can be in one the following statuses:
 
 * ``active``
 
-  Denotes an image that is fully available in Glance.
+  Denotes an image that is fully available in Glance. This occurs when
+  the image data is uploaded, or the image size is explicitly set to
+  zero on creation.
 
 * ``killed``
 
diff --git a/glance/api/v1/images.py b/glance/api/v1/images.py
index c7dbd46ea9..caeb5e71ef 100644
--- a/glance/api/v1/images.py
+++ b/glance/api/v1/images.py
@@ -272,12 +272,16 @@ def show(self, req, id):
         self._enforce(req, 'get_image')
         image_meta = self.get_active_image_meta_or_404(req, id)
 
-        image_iterator, size = self._get_from_store(image_meta['location'])
-        image_meta['size'] = size or image_meta['size']
+        if image_meta.get('size') == 0:
+            image_iterator = iter([])
+        else:
+            image_iterator, size = self._get_from_store(image_meta['location'])
+            image_iterator = utils.cooperative_iter(image_iterator)
+            image_meta['size'] = size or image_meta['size']
 
         del image_meta['location']
         return {
-            'image_iterator': utils.cooperative_iter(image_iterator),
+            'image_iterator': image_iterator,
             'image_meta': image_meta,
         }
 
@@ -295,6 +299,10 @@ def _reserve(self, req, image_meta):
         :raises HTTPBadRequest if image metadata is not valid
         """
         location = self._external_source(image_meta, req)
+
+        image_meta['status'] = ('active' if image_meta.get('size') == 0
+                                else 'queued')
+
         if location:
             store = get_store_from_location(location)
             # check the store exists before we hit the registry, but we
@@ -309,8 +317,6 @@ def _reserve(self, req, image_meta):
             # to a non-zero value during upload
             image_meta['size'] = image_meta.get('size', 0)
 
-        image_meta['status'] = 'queued'
-
         try:
             image_meta = registry.add_image_metadata(req.context, image_meta)
             return image_meta
diff --git a/glance/tests/functional/v1/test_api.py b/glance/tests/functional/v1/test_api.py
index 86b0776c5a..8adaf9407f 100644
--- a/glance/tests/functional/v1/test_api.py
+++ b/glance/tests/functional/v1/test_api.py
@@ -445,6 +445,48 @@ def test_size_greater_2G_mysql(self):
 
         self.stop_servers()
 
+    @skip_if_disabled
+    def test_zero_initial_size(self):
+        """
+        A test to ensure that an image with size explicitly set to zero
+        has status that immediately transitions to active.
+        """
+
+        self.cleanup()
+        self.start_servers(**self.__dict__.copy())
+
+        # 1. POST /images with public image named Image1
+        # attribute and a size of zero.
+        # Verify a 201 OK is returned
+        headers = {'Content-Type': 'application/octet-stream',
+                   'X-Image-Meta-Size': '0',
+                   'X-Image-Meta-Name': 'Image1',
+                   'X-Image-Meta-disk_format': 'raw',
+                   'X-image-Meta-container_format': 'ovf',
+                   'X-Image-Meta-Is-Public': 'True'}
+        path = "http://%s:%d/v1/images" % ("0.0.0.0", self.api_port)
+        http = httplib2.Http()
+        response, content = http.request(path, 'POST', headers=headers)
+        self.assertEqual(response.status, 201)
+
+        # 2. HEAD image-location
+        # Verify image size is zero and the status is active
+        path = response.get('location')
+        http = httplib2.Http()
+        response, content = http.request(path, 'HEAD')
+        self.assertEqual(response.status, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(response['x-image-meta-size'], '0')
+        self.assertEqual(response['x-image-meta-status'], 'active')
+
+        # 3. GET  image-location
+        # Verify image content is empty
+        http = httplib2.Http()
+        response, content = http.request(path, 'GET')
+        self.assertEqual(response.status, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(len(content), 0)
+
+        self.stop_servers()
+
     @skip_if_disabled
     def test_traceback_not_consumed(self):
         """
diff --git a/glance/tests/unit/v1/test_api.py b/glance/tests/unit/v1/test_api.py
index f7b8076ea5..d9331ee68c 100644
--- a/glance/tests/unit/v1/test_api.py
+++ b/glance/tests/unit/v1/test_api.py
@@ -2158,6 +2158,30 @@ def test_add_image_size_too_big(self):
         res = req.get_response(self.api)
         self.assertEquals(res.status_int, webob.exc.HTTPBadRequest.code)
 
+    def test_add_image_zero_size(self):
+        """Tests creating an active image with explicitly zero size"""
+        fixture_headers = {'x-image-meta-disk-format': 'ami',
+                           'x-image-meta-container-format': 'ami',
+                           'x-image-meta-size': '0',
+                           'x-image-meta-name': 'empty image'}
+
+        req = webob.Request.blank("/images")
+        req.method = 'POST'
+        for k, v in fixture_headers.iteritems():
+            req.headers[k] = v
+        res = req.get_response(self.api)
+        self.assertEquals(res.status_int, httplib.CREATED)
+
+        res_body = json.loads(res.body)['image']
+        self.assertEquals('active', res_body['status'])
+        image_id = res_body['id']
+
+        # GET empty image
+        req = webob.Request.blank("/images/%s" % image_id)
+        res = req.get_response(self.api)
+        self.assertEqual(res.status_int, 200)
+        self.assertEqual(len(res.body), 0)
+
     def test_add_image_bad_store(self):
         """Tests raises BadRequest for invalid store header"""
         fixture_headers = {'x-image-meta-store': 'bad',