Index: llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/binary-output-empty.test
===================================================================
--- /dev/null
+++ llvm/test/tools/llvm-objcopy/ELF/binary-output-empty.test
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# RUN: yaml2obj %s -o %t.o
+
+# Writing an empty output to a non-existent file will still create it.
+# RUN: rm -f %t-new.txt
+# RUN: llvm-objcopy -R .text -O binary %t.o %t-new.txt
+# RUN: wc -c %t-new.txt | FileCheck %s
+
+# Writing an empty output to an existing file will truncate it.
+# RUN: echo abcd > %t-existing.txt
+# RUN: llvm-objcopy -R .text -O binary %t.o %t-existing.txt
+# RUN: wc -c %t-existing.txt | FileCheck %s
+
+# In both cases, the file should be empty.
+# CHECK: 0
+
+!ELF
+FileHeader:
+  Class:           ELFCLASS64
+  Data:            ELFDATA2LSB
+  Type:            ET_EXEC
+  Machine:         EM_X86_64
+Sections:
+  - Name:            .text
+    Type:            SHT_PROGBITS
+    Flags:           [ SHF_ALLOC, SHF_EXECINSTR ]
+    Content:         "c3c3c3c3"
+    Size:            0x1000
Index: llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/Buffer.cpp
===================================================================
--- llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/Buffer.cpp
+++ llvm/tools/llvm-objcopy/Buffer.cpp
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@
 #include "Buffer.h"
 #include "llvm-objcopy.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/FileOutputBuffer.h"
+#include "llvm/Support/FileSystem.h"
 #include "llvm/Support/MemoryBuffer.h"
+#include "llvm/Support/Process.h"
 #include <memory>
 
 namespace llvm {
@@ -18,7 +20,30 @@
 
 Buffer::~Buffer() {}
 
+static Error CreateAndTruncateFile(StringRef FileName) {
+  int FD;
+  // Note: CD_CreateAlways will automatically truncate a file if it already
+  // exists.
+  if (std::error_code EC = sys::fs::openFileForWrite(
+          FileName, FD, sys::fs::CD_CreateAlways, sys::fs::OF_None))
+    return createFileError(FileName, errorCodeToError(EC));
+  if (std::error_code EC = sys::Process::SafelyCloseFileDescriptor(FD))
+    return createFileError(FileName, errorCodeToError(EC));
+  return Error::success();
+}
+
 void FileBuffer::allocate(size_t Size) {
+  // Only create a buffer if we have a positive size. Otherwise, create (and
+  // truncate) the file.
+  if (Size == 0) {
+    // FIXME: Change allocate() signature from void to Error to avoid
+    // exiting via error() here.
+    if (Error Err = CreateAndTruncateFile(getName()))
+      handleAllErrors(std::move(Err),
+                      [](const ErrorInfoBase &E) { error(E.message()); });
+    return;
+  }
+
   Expected<std::unique_ptr<FileOutputBuffer>> BufferOrErr =
       FileOutputBuffer::create(getName(), Size, FileOutputBuffer::F_executable);
   handleAllErrors(BufferOrErr.takeError(), [this](const ErrorInfoBase &E) {
@@ -27,7 +52,7 @@
   Buf = std::move(*BufferOrErr);
 }
 
-Error FileBuffer::commit() { return Buf->commit(); }
+Error FileBuffer::commit() { return Buf ? Buf->commit() : Error::success(); }
 
 uint8_t *FileBuffer::getBufferStart() {
   return reinterpret_cast<uint8_t *>(Buf->getBufferStart());