diff --git a/doc/050_restore.rst b/doc/050_restore.rst
index cab66d54a..b0ea021cc 100644
--- a/doc/050_restore.rst
+++ b/doc/050_restore.rst
@@ -60,6 +60,14 @@ Restoring symbolic links on windows is only possible when the user has
 ``SeCreateSymbolicLinkPrivilege`` privilege or is running as admin. This is a
 restriction of windows not restic.
 
+By default, restic does not restore files as sparse. Use ``restore --sparse`` to
+enable the creation of sparse files if supported by the filesystem. Then restic
+will restore long runs of zero bytes as holes in the corresponding files.
+Reading from a hole returns the original zero bytes, but it does not consume
+disk space. Note that the exact location of the holes can differ from those in
+the original file, as their location is determined while restoring and is not
+stored explicitly.
+
 Restore using mount
 ===================
 
diff --git a/doc/manual_rest.rst b/doc/manual_rest.rst
index 24a324f63..f83f07bb8 100644
--- a/doc/manual_rest.rst
+++ b/doc/manual_rest.rst
@@ -258,7 +258,10 @@ Metadata handling
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 Restic saves and restores most default attributes, including extended attributes like ACLs.
-Sparse files are not handled in a special way yet, and aren't restored.
+Information about holes in a sparse file is not stored explicitly, that is during a backup
+the zero bytes in a hole are deduplicated and compressed like any other data backed up.
+Instead, the restore command optionally creates holes in files by detecting and replacing
+long runs of zeros, in filesystems that support sparse files.
 
 The following metadata is handled by restic: