diff --git a/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client.Modes/StartingMode.cs b/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client.Modes/StartingMode.cs
index 4c56d9120..1b94ea005 100644
--- a/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client.Modes/StartingMode.cs
+++ b/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client.Modes/StartingMode.cs
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 using MonoTorrent.BEncoding;
 using MonoTorrent.Logging;
 
+using ReusableTasks;
+
 namespace MonoTorrent.Client.Modes
 {
     class StartingMode : Mode
@@ -62,6 +64,8 @@ public async Task WaitForStartingToComplete ()
                 throw new TorrentException ("Torrents with no metadata must use 'MetadataMode', not 'StartingMode'.");
 
             try {
+                // If the torrent contains any files of length 0, ensure we create them now.
+                await CreateEmptyFiles ();
                 await VerifyHashState ();
                 Cancellation.Token.ThrowIfCancellationRequested ();
                 Manager.PieceManager.Initialise ();
@@ -123,6 +127,23 @@ public async Task WaitForStartingToComplete ()
             await Manager.LocalPeerAnnounceAsync ();
         }
 
+        async ReusableTask CreateEmptyFiles ()
+        {
+            foreach (var file in Manager.Files) {
+                if (file.Length == 0) {
+                    var fileInfo = new FileInfo (file.FullPath);
+                    if (fileInfo.Exists && fileInfo.Length == 0)
+                        continue;
+
+                    await MainLoop.SwitchToThreadpool ();
+                    Directory.CreateDirectory (Path.GetDirectoryName (file.FullPath)!);
+                    // Ensure file on disk is always 0 bytes, as it's supposed to be.
+                    using (var stream = File.OpenWrite (file.FullPath))
+                        stream.SetLength (0);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         async void SendAnnounces ()
         {
             try {
@@ -156,12 +177,9 @@ async Task TryLoadV2HashesFromCache()
         async Task VerifyHashState ()
         {
             // If we do not have metadata or the torrent needs a hash check, fast exit.
-            if (!Manager.HasMetadata || !Manager.HashChecked)
+            if (!Manager.HashChecked)
                 return;
 
-            // FIXME: I should really just ensure that zero length files always exist on disk. If the first file is
-            // a zero length file and someone deletes it after the first piece has been written to disk, it will
-            // never be recreated. If the downloaded data requires this file to exist, we have an issue.
             foreach (ITorrentManagerFile file in Manager.Files) {
                 if (!file.BitField.AllFalse && file.Length > 0) {
                     if (!await DiskManager.CheckFileExistsAsync (file)) {
diff --git a/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/Managers/TorrentManager.cs b/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/Managers/TorrentManager.cs
index 473f1decf..ce7bb5c7e 100644
--- a/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/Managers/TorrentManager.cs
+++ b/src/MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/Managers/TorrentManager.cs
@@ -670,10 +670,13 @@ internal void SetMetadata (Torrent torrent)
                 }
 
                 var currentPath = File.Exists (downloadCompleteFullPath) ? downloadCompleteFullPath : downloadIncompleteFullPath;
-                return new TorrentFileInfo (file, currentPath) {
+                var torrentFileInfo = new TorrentFileInfo (file, currentPath) {
                     DownloadCompleteFullPath = downloadCompleteFullPath,
                     DownloadIncompleteFullPath = downloadIncompleteFullPath
                 };
+                if (file.Length == 0)
+                    torrentFileInfo.BitField[0] = true;
+                return torrentFileInfo;
             }).Cast<ITorrentManagerFile> ().ToList ().AsReadOnly ();
 
             PieceHashes = Torrent.CreatePieceHashes ();
@@ -941,6 +944,9 @@ internal void OnPieceHashed (int index, bool hashPassed, int piecesHashed, int t
             var files = Files;
             var fileIndex = files.FindFileByPieceIndex (index);
             for (int i = fileIndex; i < files.Count && files[i].StartPieceIndex <= index; i++) {
+                // Empty files always have all bits set to 'true' as they're treated as being downloaded as soon as they exist on disk.
+                if (files[i].Length == 0)
+                    continue;
                 ((TorrentFileInfo) files[i]).BitField[index - files[i].StartPieceIndex] = hashPassed;
 
                 // If we're only hashing 1 piece then we can start moving files now. This occurs when a torrent
diff --git a/src/Tests/Tests.MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/ClientEngineTests.cs b/src/Tests/Tests.MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/ClientEngineTests.cs
index be1d6aa39..4301c9c05 100644
--- a/src/Tests/Tests.MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/ClientEngineTests.cs
+++ b/src/Tests/Tests.MonoTorrent.Client/MonoTorrent.Client/ClientEngineTests.cs
@@ -370,6 +370,28 @@ public async Task SaveRestoreState_OneTorrentFile_NoContainingDirectory ()
             }
         }
 
+        [Test]
+        public async Task StartAsyncAlwaysCreatesEmptyFiles ()
+        {
+            var files = TorrentFile.Create (Constants.BlockSize * 4, 0, 1, 2, 3);
+            using var writer = new TestWriter ();
+            using var rig = TestRig.CreateMultiFile (files, Constants.BlockSize * 4, writer);
+
+            for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
+                var downloadingState = rig.Manager.WaitForState (TorrentState.Downloading);
+                var stoppedState = rig.Manager.WaitForState (TorrentState.Stopped);
+
+                await rig.Manager.StartAsync ();
+                Assert.IsTrue (downloadingState.Wait (5000), "Started");
+                Assert.IsTrue (File.Exists (rig.Manager.Files[0].FullPath));
+                Assert.IsTrue (rig.Manager.Files[0].BitField.AllTrue);
+
+                await rig.Manager.StopAsync ();
+                Assert.IsTrue (stoppedState.Wait (5000), "Stopped");
+                File.Delete (rig.Manager.Files[0].FullPath);
+            }
+        }
+
         [Test]
         public async Task StopTest ()
         {