diff --git a/docker.go b/docker.go
index ec703ac913..c946103556 100644
--- a/docker.go
+++ b/docker.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"io/fs"
 	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -602,19 +603,41 @@ func (c *DockerContainer) CopyFileToContainer(ctx context.Context, hostFilePath
 		return c.CopyDirToContainer(ctx, hostFilePath, containerFilePath, fileMode)
 	}
 
-	fileContent, err := os.ReadFile(hostFilePath)
+	f, err := os.Open(hostFilePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	return c.CopyToContainer(ctx, fileContent, containerFilePath, fileMode)
+	defer f.Close()
+
+	info, err := f.Stat()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// In Go 1.22 os.File is always an io.WriterTo. However, testcontainers
+	// currently allows Go 1.21, so we need to trick the compiler a little.
+	var file fs.File = f
+	return c.copyToContainer(ctx, func(tw io.Writer) error {
+		// Attempt optimized writeTo, implemented in linux
+		if wt, ok := file.(io.WriterTo); ok {
+			_, err := wt.WriteTo(tw)
+			return err
+		}
+		_, err := io.Copy(tw, f)
+		return err
+	}, info.Size(), containerFilePath, fileMode)
 }
 
 // CopyToContainer copies fileContent data to a file in container
 func (c *DockerContainer) CopyToContainer(ctx context.Context, fileContent []byte, containerFilePath string, fileMode int64) error {
-	buffer, err := tarFile(fileContent, containerFilePath, fileMode)
-	if err != nil {
+	return c.copyToContainer(ctx, func(tw io.Writer) error {
+		_, err := tw.Write(fileContent)
 		return err
-	}
+	}, int64(len(fileContent)), containerFilePath, fileMode)
+}
+
+func (c *DockerContainer) copyToContainer(ctx context.Context, fileContent func(tw io.Writer) error, fileContentSize int64, containerFilePath string, fileMode int64) error {
+	buffer, err := tarFile(containerFilePath, fileContent, fileContentSize, fileMode)
 
 	err = c.provider.client.CopyToContainer(ctx, c.ID, "/", buffer, types.CopyToContainerOptions{})
 	if err != nil {
@@ -1574,7 +1597,8 @@ func (p *DockerProvider) SaveImages(ctx context.Context, output string, images .
 		_ = imageReader.Close()
 	}()
 
-	_, err = io.Copy(outputFile, imageReader)
+	// Attempt optimized readFrom, implemented in linux
+	_, err = outputFile.ReadFrom(imageReader)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("writing images to output %w", err)
 	}
diff --git a/file.go b/file.go
index 4c1f3ee32b..a6743cc9e4 100644
--- a/file.go
+++ b/file.go
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ func tarDir(src string, fileMode int64) (*bytes.Buffer, error) {
 }
 
 // tarFile compress a single file using tar + gzip algorithms
-func tarFile(fileContent []byte, basePath string, fileMode int64) (*bytes.Buffer, error) {
+func tarFile(basePath string, fileContent func(tw io.Writer) error, fileContentSize int64, fileMode int64) (*bytes.Buffer, error) {
 	buffer := &bytes.Buffer{}
 
 	zr := gzip.NewWriter(buffer)
@@ -119,12 +119,12 @@ func tarFile(fileContent []byte, basePath string, fileMode int64) (*bytes.Buffer
 	hdr := &tar.Header{
 		Name: basePath,
 		Mode: fileMode,
-		Size: int64(len(fileContent)),
+		Size: fileContentSize,
 	}
 	if err := tw.WriteHeader(hdr); err != nil {
 		return buffer, err
 	}
-	if _, err := tw.Write(fileContent); err != nil {
+	if err := fileContent(tw); err != nil {
 		return buffer, err
 	}
 
diff --git a/file_test.go b/file_test.go
index c1fc9f0704..e5e660dee7 100644
--- a/file_test.go
+++ b/file_test.go
@@ -119,7 +119,10 @@ func Test_TarFile(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	buff, err := tarFile(b, "Docker.file", 0o755)
+	buff, err := tarFile("Docker.file", func(tw io.Writer) error {
+		_, err := tw.Write(b)
+		return err
+	}, int64(len(b)), 0o755)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}