diff --git a/HOWTO.rst b/HOWTO.rst
index 6a8fb3e375..34d6afdf6e 100644
--- a/HOWTO.rst
+++ b/HOWTO.rst
@@ -2507,6 +2507,10 @@ with the caveat that when used on the command line, they must come after the
 	If this is set to 0, fio generates protection information for
 	write case and verifies for read case. Default: 1.
 
+	For 16 bit CRC generation fio will use isa-l if available otherwise
+	it will use the default slower generator.
+	(see: https://github.com/intel/isa-l)
+
 .. option:: pi_chk=str[,str][,str] : [io_uring_cmd]
 
 	Controls the protection information check. This can take one or more
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index cc8164b27d..7cf3b826c0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -194,6 +194,10 @@ endif
 ifndef CONFIG_HAVE_STATX
   SOURCE += oslib/statx.c
 endif
+ifdef CONFIG_LIBISAL
+  LIBS += $(LIBISAL_LIBS)
+  FIO_CFLAGS += $(LIBISAL_CFLAGS)
+endif
 ifdef CONFIG_GFAPI
   SOURCE += engines/glusterfs.c
   SOURCE += engines/glusterfs_sync.c
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 3e3f8132a3..4954bf61db 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ libiscsi="no"
 libnbd="no"
 libnfs=""
 xnvme=""
+isal=""
 libblkio=""
 libzbc=""
 dfs=""
@@ -262,6 +263,8 @@ for opt do
   ;;
   --disable-xnvme) xnvme="no"
   ;;
+  --disable-isal) isal="no"
+  ;;
   --disable-libblkio) libblkio="no"
   ;;
   --disable-tcmalloc) disable_tcmalloc="yes"
@@ -322,6 +325,7 @@ if test "$show_help" = "yes" ; then
   echo "--enable-libiscsi       Enable iscsi support"
   echo "--enable-libnbd         Enable libnbd (NBD engine) support"
   echo "--disable-xnvme         Disable xnvme support even if found"
+  echo "--disable-isal          Disable isal support even if found"
   echo "--disable-libblkio      Disable libblkio support even if found"
   echo "--disable-libzbc        Disable libzbc even if found"
   echo "--disable-tcmalloc      Disable tcmalloc support"
@@ -2684,6 +2688,19 @@ if test "$xnvme" != "no" ; then
 fi
 print_config "xnvme engine" "$xnvme"
 
+##########################################
+# Check if we have isa-l
+if test "$isal" != "no" ; then
+  if check_min_lib_version libisal 2.30.0; then
+    isal="yes"
+    isal_cflags=$(pkg-config --cflags libisal)
+    isal_libs=$(pkg-config --libs libisal)
+  else
+    isal="no"
+  fi
+fi
+print_config "isa-l" "$isal"
+
 ##########################################
 # Check if we have libblkio
 if test "$libblkio" != "no" ; then
@@ -3334,6 +3351,11 @@ if test "$xnvme" = "yes" ; then
   echo "LIBXNVME_CFLAGS=$xnvme_cflags" >> $config_host_mak
   echo "LIBXNVME_LIBS=$xnvme_libs" >> $config_host_mak
 fi
+if test "$isal" = "yes" ; then
+  output_sym "CONFIG_LIBISAL"
+  echo "LIBISAL_CFLAGS=$isal_cflags" >> $config_host_mak
+  echo "LIBISAL_LIBS=$isal_libs" >> $config_host_mak
+fi
 if test "$libblkio" = "yes" ; then
   output_sym "CONFIG_LIBBLKIO"
   echo "LIBBLKIO_CFLAGS=$libblkio_cflags" >> $config_host_mak
diff --git a/crc/crct10dif_common.c b/crc/crct10dif_common.c
index cfb2a1b18d..b163511480 100644
--- a/crc/crct10dif_common.c
+++ b/crc/crct10dif_common.c
@@ -24,6 +24,17 @@
  *
  */
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_LIBISAL
+#include <isa-l/crc.h>
+
+extern unsigned short fio_crc_t10dif(unsigned short crc,
+				     const unsigned char *buffer,
+				     unsigned int len)
+{
+	return (crc16_t10dif(crc, buffer, len));
+}
+
+#else
 #include "crc-t10dif.h"
 
 /* Table generated using the following polynomium:
@@ -76,3 +87,5 @@ extern unsigned short fio_crc_t10dif(unsigned short crc,
 
 	return crc;
 }
+
+#endif
diff --git a/fio.1 b/fio.1
index a8dc8f6c51..c4742aa925 100644
--- a/fio.1
+++ b/fio.1
@@ -2263,6 +2263,10 @@ size greater than protection information size, fio will not generate or verify
 the protection information portion of metadata for write or read case
 respectively. If this is set to 0, fio generates protection information for
 write case and verifies for read case. Default: 1.
+
+For 16 bit CRC generation fio will use isa-l if available otherwise it will
+use the default slower generator.
+(see: https://github.com/intel/isa-l)
 .TP
 .BI (io_uring_cmd)pi_chk \fR=\fPstr[,str][,str]
 Controls the protection information check. This can take one or more of these