diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
index ca718c5..1bb98c2 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF_Stream.cc
@@ -432,7 +432,16 @@ Stream::pipeStreamData(
         filterp = &ignored;
     }
     bool& filter = *filterp;
-    filter = encode_flags || decode_level != qpdf_dl_none;
+
+    const bool empty_stream = !s->stream_provider && !s->stream_data && s->length == 0;
+    const bool empty_stream_data = s->stream_data && s->stream_data->getSize() == 0;
+    const bool empty = empty_stream || empty_stream_data;
+
+    if(empty_stream || empty_stream_data) {
+        filter = true;
+    }
+
+    filter = empty || encode_flags || decode_level != qpdf_dl_none;
     if (filter) {
         filter = filterable(decode_level, filters);
     }
diff --git a/manual/release-notes.rst b/manual/release-notes.rst
index e8b802b..514626a 100644
--- a/manual/release-notes.rst
+++ b/manual/release-notes.rst
@@ -23,6 +23,13 @@ more detail.
       not work on some older Linux distributions. If you need support
       for an older distribution, please use version 12.2.0 or below.
 
+  - Other enhancements
+
+    - ``QPDFWriter`` will no longer add filters when writing empty streams.
+
+    - More sanity checks have been added when files with damaged xref tables
+      are recovered.
+
 12.2.0: May 4, 2025
   - Upcoming C++ Version Change