diff --git a/twoliter/embedded/build.Dockerfile b/twoliter/embedded/build.Dockerfile
index 87e749ee..1c85bbdc 100644
--- a/twoliter/embedded/build.Dockerfile
+++ b/twoliter/embedded/build.Dockerfile
@@ -203,6 +203,7 @@ ARG GRUB_SET_PRIVATE_VAR
 ARG UEFI_SECURE_BOOT
 ARG SYSTEMD_NETWORKD
 ARG XFS_DATA_PARTITION
+ARG EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION
 ARG IN_PLACE_UPDATES
 ARG HOST_CONTAINERS
 ARG FIPS
@@ -227,6 +228,7 @@ RUN \
    && echo -e -n "${UEFI_SECURE_BOOT:+%bcond_without uefi_secure_boot\n}" >> "${RPM_BCONDS}" \
    && echo -e -n "${SYSTEMD_NETWORKD:+%bcond_without systemd_networkd\n}" >> "${RPM_BCONDS}" \
    && echo -e -n "${XFS_DATA_PARTITION:+%bcond_without xfs_data_partition\n}" >> "${RPM_BCONDS}" \
+   && echo -e -n "${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION:+%bcond_without erofs_root_partition\n}" >> "${RPM_BCONDS}" \
    && echo -e -n "${IN_PLACE_UPDATES:+%bcond_without in_place_updates\n}" >> "${RPM_BCONDS}" \
    && echo -e -n "${HOST_CONTAINERS:+%bcond_without host_containers\n}" >> "${RPM_BCONDS}"
 
@@ -331,6 +333,7 @@ ARG DATA_IMAGE_PUBLISH_SIZE_GIB
 ARG KERNEL_PARAMETERS
 ARG GRUB_SET_PRIVATE_VAR
 ARG XFS_DATA_PARTITION
+ARG EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION
 ARG UEFI_SECURE_BOOT
 ARG IN_PLACE_UPDATES
 ENV VARIANT=${VARIANT} VERSION_ID=${VERSION_ID} BUILD_ID=${BUILD_ID} \
@@ -369,6 +372,7 @@ RUN --mount=target=/host \
       --partition-plan="${PARTITION_PLAN}" \
       --ovf-template="/bypass/variants/${VARIANT}/template.ovf" \
       ${XFS_DATA_PARTITION:+--with-xfs-data-partition=yes} \
+      ${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION:+--with-erofs-root-partition=yes} \
       ${GRUB_SET_PRIVATE_VAR:+--with-grub-set-private-var=yes} \
       ${UEFI_SECURE_BOOT:+--with-uefi-secure-boot=yes} \
       ${IN_PLACE_UPDATES:+--with-in-place-updates=yes} && \
@@ -473,6 +477,7 @@ ARG PARTITION_PLAN
 ARG OS_IMAGE_PUBLISH_SIZE_GIB
 ARG DATA_IMAGE_PUBLISH_SIZE_GIB
 ARG UEFI_SECURE_BOOT
+ARG EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION
 ARG IN_PLACE_UPDATES
 ENV VARIANT=${VARIANT} VERSION_ID=${VERSION_ID} BUILD_ID=${BUILD_ID}
 WORKDIR /root
@@ -507,6 +512,7 @@ RUN --mount=target=/host \
       --data-image-publish-size-gib="${DATA_IMAGE_PUBLISH_SIZE_GIB}" \
       --partition-plan="${PARTITION_PLAN}" \
       --ovf-template="/bypass/variants/${VARIANT}/template.ovf" \
+      ${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION:+--with-erofs-root-partition=yes} \
       ${UEFI_SECURE_BOOT:+--with-uefi-secure-boot=yes} \
       ${IN_PLACE_UPDATES:+--with-in-place-updates=yes} && \
     chown -R "${BUILDER_UID}:${BUILDER_UID}" /output/ && \
diff --git a/twoliter/embedded/img2img b/twoliter/embedded/img2img
index 9da72ed7..f438ed2d 100755
--- a/twoliter/embedded/img2img
+++ b/twoliter/embedded/img2img
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ shopt -qs failglob
 OUTPUT_FMT="raw"
 OVF_TEMPLATE=""
 
+EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION="no"
 UEFI_SECURE_BOOT="no"
 IN_PLACE_UPDATES="no"
 
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ for opt in "$@"; do
   --data-image-publish-size-gib=*) DATA_IMAGE_PUBLISH_SIZE_GIB="${optarg}" ;;
   --partition-plan=*) PARTITION_PLAN="${optarg}" ;;
   --ovf-template=*) OVF_TEMPLATE="${optarg}" ;;
+  --with-erofs-root-partition=*) EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION="${optarg}" ;;
   --with-uefi-secure-boot=*) UEFI_SECURE_BOOT="${optarg}" ;;
   --with-in-place-updates=*) IN_PLACE_UPDATES="${optarg}" ;;
   *)
@@ -80,6 +82,10 @@ ROOT_MOUNT="$(mktemp -p "${WORKDIR}" -d root.XXXXXXXXXX)"
 BOOT_MOUNT="$(mktemp -p "${WORKDIR}" -d boot.XXXXXXXXXX)"
 EFI_MOUNT="$(mktemp -p "${WORKDIR}" -d efi.XXXXXXXXXX)"
 
+SELINUX_ROOT="/etc/selinux"
+SELINUX_POLICY="fortified"
+SELINUX_FILE_CONTEXTS="${ROOT_MOUNT}/${SELINUX_ROOT}/${SELINUX_POLICY}/contexts/files/file_contexts"
+
 # Collect partition sizes and offsets from the partition plan.
 declare -A partsize partoff
 set_partition_sizes \
@@ -122,6 +128,13 @@ done
 dd if="${OS_IMAGE}" of="${ROOT_IMAGE}" \
   count="${partsize["ROOT-A"]}" bs=1M skip="${partoff["ROOT-A"]}"
 
+# For erofs, extract the root filesystem since we can't modify in-place.
+if [[ "${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION}" == "yes" ]]; then
+  fsck.erofs --extract="${ROOT_MOUNT}" "${ROOT_IMAGE}"
+  touch -r "${ROOT_IMAGE}" "${ROOT_MOUNT}"
+  rm "${ROOT_IMAGE}"
+fi
+
 # Extract the boot partition from the OS image, and dump the contents.
 dd if="${OS_IMAGE}" of="${BOOT_IMAGE}" \
   count="${partsize["BOOT-A"]}" bs=1M skip="${partoff["BOOT-A"]}"
@@ -149,25 +162,29 @@ install_root_json "${ROOT_MOUNT}"
 ###############################################################################
 # Section 4: update root partition and root verity
 
-# shellcheck disable=SC2312  # mapfile is validated elsewhere
-mapfile -t new_root_artifacts <<<"$(find "${ROOT_MOUNT}" -type f)"
-
-# The reason we check index 0 rather than the mapfile length is if `find` fails
-# to find an artifact the heredoc to mapfile will assign empty output to 0.
-if [[ -z "${new_root_artifacts[0]}" ]]; then
-  echo "no new root artifacts found" >&2
-  exit 1
+if [[ "${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION}" == "yes" ]]; then
+  mkfs_root_erofs "${ROOT_MOUNT}" "${ROOT_IMAGE}" "${SELINUX_FILE_CONTEXTS}"
 else
-  # Write files from the root mount to the root image.
-  ROOT_DEBUGFS_STDERR="${WORKDIR}/root.err"
-  for artifact in "${new_root_artifacts[@]}"; do
-    cat <<EOF | debugfs -w -f - "${ROOT_IMAGE}" 2>>"${ROOT_DEBUGFS_STDERR}"
+  # shellcheck disable=SC2312  # mapfile is validated elsewhere
+  mapfile -t new_root_artifacts <<<"$(find "${ROOT_MOUNT}" -type f)"
+
+  # The reason we check index 0 rather than the mapfile length is if `find` fails
+  # to find an artifact the heredoc to mapfile will assign empty output to 0.
+  if [[ -z "${new_root_artifacts[0]}" ]]; then
+    echo "no new root artifacts found" >&2
+    exit 1
+  else
+    # Write files from the root mount to the root image.
+    ROOT_DEBUGFS_STDERR="${WORKDIR}/root.err"
+    for artifact in "${new_root_artifacts[@]}"; do
+      cat <<EOF | debugfs -w -f - "${ROOT_IMAGE}" 2>>"${ROOT_DEBUGFS_STDERR}"
 rm ${artifact#"${ROOT_MOUNT}"}
 write ${artifact} ${artifact#"${ROOT_MOUNT}"}
 ea_set ${artifact#"${ROOT_MOUNT}"} security.selinux system_u:object_r:os_t:s0
 EOF
-  done
-  check_debugfs_errors "${ROOT_DEBUGFS_STDERR}"
+    done
+    check_debugfs_errors "${ROOT_DEBUGFS_STDERR}"
+  fi
 fi
 
 # Validate and write root image back to the OS image.
diff --git a/twoliter/embedded/imghelper b/twoliter/embedded/imghelper
index c4ad05de..44da01c2 100755
--- a/twoliter/embedded/imghelper
+++ b/twoliter/embedded/imghelper
@@ -321,6 +321,28 @@ mkfs_data_xfs() {
   dd if="${bottlerocket_data}" of="${target}" conv=notrunc bs=1M seek="${offset}"
 }
 
+mkfs_root_erofs() {
+  local root_mount root_image selinux_file_contexts
+  root_mount="${1:?}"
+  root_image="${2:?}"
+  selinux_file_contexts="${3:?}"
+  # Ensure the root mount directory is not writable, to avoid permission errors
+  # when interacting with the root inode at runtime.
+  chmod 555 "${root_mount}"
+  # mkfs.erofs optimizations:
+  #  --all-root: use same UID/GID for all files
+  #          -T: use same mtime for all files
+  # -z lz4hc,12: lz4 for fast decompression, lz4hc level 12 for max compression
+  #   -C 262144: use physical clusters up to 256 KiB to align with EBS I/O size
+  mkfs.erofs \
+    --file-contexts="${selinux_file_contexts}" \
+    --all-root \
+    -T "$(stat -c '%Y' "${root_mount}/root")" \
+    -z lz4hc,12 \
+    -C 262144 \
+    "${root_image}" "${root_mount}"
+}
+
 check_image_size() {
   local image part_mib image_size part_bytes
   image="${1:?}"
diff --git a/twoliter/embedded/metadata.spec b/twoliter/embedded/metadata.spec
index 351901ca..2f130711 100644
--- a/twoliter/embedded/metadata.spec
+++ b/twoliter/embedded/metadata.spec
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ Provides: %{_cross_os}image-feature(xfs-data-partition)
 Provides: %{_cross_os}image-feature(no-xfs-data-partition)
 %endif
 
+%if %{with erofs_root_partition}
+Provides: %{_cross_os}image-feature(erofs-root-partition)
+%else
+Provides: %{_cross_os}image-feature(no-erofs-root-partition)
+%endif
+
 %if %{with fips}
 Provides: %{_cross_os}image-feature(fips)
 %else
diff --git a/twoliter/embedded/rpm2img b/twoliter/embedded/rpm2img
index 356b8f7a..55cb280f 100755
--- a/twoliter/embedded/rpm2img
+++ b/twoliter/embedded/rpm2img
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ OVF_TEMPLATE=""
 
 GRUB_SET_PRIVATE_VAR="no"
 XFS_DATA_PARTITION="no"
+EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION="no"
 UEFI_SECURE_BOOT="no"
 IN_PLACE_UPDATES="no"
 
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ for opt in "$@"; do
   --ovf-template=*) OVF_TEMPLATE="${optarg}" ;;
   --with-grub-set-private-var=*) GRUB_SET_PRIVATE_VAR="${optarg}" ;;
   --with-xfs-data-partition=*) XFS_DATA_PARTITION="${optarg}" ;;
+  --with-erofs-root-partition=*) EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION="${optarg}" ;;
   --with-uefi-secure-boot=*) UEFI_SECURE_BOOT="${optarg}" ;;
   --with-in-place-updates=*) IN_PLACE_UPDATES="${optarg}" ;;
   *)
@@ -260,6 +262,13 @@ printf "%s\n" "${INVENTORY_DATA}" >"${OUTPUT_DIR}/application-inventory.json"
 
 # Regenerate module dependencies, if possible.
 KMOD_DIR="${ROOT_MOUNT}/lib/modules"
+# First decompress the kernel modules, so they can be recompressed by EROFS.
+if [[ "${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION}" == "yes" ]]; then
+  find "${KMOD_DIR}" -name '*.ko.gz' -exec gunzip '{}' \;
+  find "${KMOD_DIR}" -name '*.ko.xz' -exec unxz '{}' \;
+  find "${KMOD_DIR}" -name '*.ko.zst' -exec unzstd --rm '{}' \;
+fi
+
 # shellcheck disable=SC2066
 # Quotes are fine here because we only expect one directory to be found.
 for kver in "$(find "${KMOD_DIR}" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -printf '%P\n')"; do
@@ -280,12 +289,19 @@ install_ca_certs "${ROOT_MOUNT}"
 # Install 'root.json'.
 install_root_json "${ROOT_MOUNT}"
 
-# Install licenses.
-mksquashfs \
-  "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/usr/share/licenses \
-  "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/usr/share/bottlerocket/licenses.squashfs \
-  -no-exports -all-root -comp zstd
-rm -rf "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/var/lib "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/usr/share/licenses/*
+# "Install" licenses by compressing them into a squashfs, then removing the
+# original files. Skip this step if using erofs, since they will be compressed
+# when the filesystem is created.
+if [[ "${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION}" == "no" ]]; then
+  mksquashfs \
+    "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/usr/share/licenses \
+    "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/usr/share/bottlerocket/licenses.squashfs \
+    -no-exports -all-root -comp zstd
+  rm -rf "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/usr/share/licenses/*
+fi
+
+# Clean up rpmdb.
+rm -rf "${ROOT_MOUNT}"/var/lib
 
 if [[ "${ARCH}" == "x86_64" ]]; then
   # MBR and BIOS-BOOT
@@ -377,14 +393,18 @@ else
 fi
 
 # BOTTLEROCKET-ROOT-A
-mkdir -p "${ROOT_MOUNT}/lost+found"
-ROOT_LABELS=$(setfiles -n -d -F -m -r "${ROOT_MOUNT}" \
-  "${SELINUX_FILE_CONTEXTS}" "${ROOT_MOUNT}" |
-  awk -v root="${ROOT_MOUNT}" '{gsub(root"/","/"); gsub(root,"/"); print "ea_set", $1, "security.selinux", $4}')
-mkfs.ext4 -E "lazy_itable_init=0,stride=${ROOT_STRIDE},stripe_width=${ROOT_STRIPE_WIDTH}" \
-  -O ^has_journal -b "${VERITY_DATA_BLOCK_SIZE}" -d "${ROOT_MOUNT}" "${ROOT_IMAGE}" "${partsize["ROOT-A"]}M"
-echo "${ROOT_LABELS}" | debugfs -w -f - "${ROOT_IMAGE}"
-resize2fs -M "${ROOT_IMAGE}"
+if [[ "${EROFS_ROOT_PARTITION}" == "yes" ]]; then
+  mkfs_root_erofs "${ROOT_MOUNT}" "${ROOT_IMAGE}" "${SELINUX_FILE_CONTEXTS}"
+else
+  mkdir -p "${ROOT_MOUNT}/lost+found"
+  ROOT_LABELS=$(setfiles -n -d -F -m -r "${ROOT_MOUNT}" \
+    "${SELINUX_FILE_CONTEXTS}" "${ROOT_MOUNT}" |
+    awk -v root="${ROOT_MOUNT}" '{gsub(root"/","/"); gsub(root,"/"); print "ea_set", $1, "security.selinux", $4}')
+  mkfs.ext4 -E "lazy_itable_init=0,stride=${ROOT_STRIDE},stripe_width=${ROOT_STRIPE_WIDTH}" \
+    -O ^has_journal -b "${VERITY_DATA_BLOCK_SIZE}" -d "${ROOT_MOUNT}" "${ROOT_IMAGE}" "${partsize["ROOT-A"]}M"
+  echo "${ROOT_LABELS}" | debugfs -w -f - "${ROOT_IMAGE}"
+  resize2fs -M "${ROOT_IMAGE}"
+fi
 dd if="${ROOT_IMAGE}" of="${OS_IMAGE}" conv=notrunc bs=1M seek="${partoff["ROOT-A"]}"
 
 # BOTTLEROCKET-VERITY-A