diff --git a/include/sound/dmaengine_pcm.h b/include/sound/dmaengine_pcm.h
index f86ef5ea9b01..67be2445941a 100644
--- a/include/sound/dmaengine_pcm.h
+++ b/include/sound/dmaengine_pcm.h
@@ -51,6 +51,16 @@ struct dma_chan *snd_dmaengine_pcm_request_channel(dma_filter_fn filter_fn,
 	void *filter_data);
 struct dma_chan *snd_dmaengine_pcm_get_chan(struct snd_pcm_substream *substream);
 
+/*
+ * The DAI supports packed transfers, eg 2 16-bit samples in a 32-bit word.
+ * If this flag is set the dmaengine driver won't put any restriction on
+ * the supported sample formats and set the DMA transfer size to undefined.
+ * The DAI driver is responsible to disable any unsupported formats in it's
+ * configuration and catch corner cases that are not already handled in
+ * the ALSA core.
+ */
+#define SND_DMAENGINE_PCM_DAI_FLAG_PACK BIT(0)
+
 /**
  * struct snd_dmaengine_dai_dma_data - DAI DMA configuration data
  * @addr: Address of the DAI data source or destination register.
@@ -63,6 +73,7 @@ struct dma_chan *snd_dmaengine_pcm_get_chan(struct snd_pcm_substream *substream)
  * requesting the DMA channel.
  * @chan_name: Custom channel name to use when requesting DMA channel.
  * @fifo_size: FIFO size of the DAI controller in bytes
+ * @flags: PCM_DAI flags, only SND_DMAENGINE_PCM_DAI_FLAG_PACK for now
  */
 struct snd_dmaengine_dai_dma_data {
 	dma_addr_t addr;
@@ -72,6 +83,7 @@ struct snd_dmaengine_dai_dma_data {
 	void *filter_data;
 	const char *chan_name;
 	unsigned int fifo_size;
+	unsigned int flags;
 };
 
 void snd_dmaengine_pcm_set_config_from_dai_data(
diff --git a/sound/core/pcm_dmaengine.c b/sound/core/pcm_dmaengine.c
index 697c166acf05..8eb58c709b14 100644
--- a/sound/core/pcm_dmaengine.c
+++ b/sound/core/pcm_dmaengine.c
@@ -106,8 +106,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(snd_hwparams_to_dma_slave_config);
  * direction of the substream. If the substream is a playback stream the dst
  * fields will be initialized, if it is a capture stream the src fields will be
  * initialized. The {dst,src}_addr_width field will only be initialized if the
- * addr_width field of the DAI DMA data struct is not equal to
- * DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_UNDEFINED.
+ * SND_DMAENGINE_PCM_DAI_FLAG_PACK flag is set or if the addr_width field of
+ * the DAI DMA data struct is not equal to DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_UNDEFINED. If
+ * both conditions are met the latter takes priority.
  */
 void snd_dmaengine_pcm_set_config_from_dai_data(
 	const struct snd_pcm_substream *substream,
@@ -117,11 +118,17 @@ void snd_dmaengine_pcm_set_config_from_dai_data(
 	if (substream->stream == SNDRV_PCM_STREAM_PLAYBACK) {
 		slave_config->dst_addr = dma_data->addr;
 		slave_config->dst_maxburst = dma_data->maxburst;
+		if (dma_data->flags & SND_DMAENGINE_PCM_DAI_FLAG_PACK)
+			slave_config->dst_addr_width =
+				DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_UNDEFINED;
 		if (dma_data->addr_width != DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_UNDEFINED)
 			slave_config->dst_addr_width = dma_data->addr_width;
 	} else {
 		slave_config->src_addr = dma_data->addr;
 		slave_config->src_maxburst = dma_data->maxburst;
+		if (dma_data->flags & SND_DMAENGINE_PCM_DAI_FLAG_PACK)
+			slave_config->src_addr_width =
+				DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_UNDEFINED;
 		if (dma_data->addr_width != DMA_SLAVE_BUSWIDTH_UNDEFINED)
 			slave_config->src_addr_width = dma_data->addr_width;
 	}
diff --git a/sound/soc/soc-generic-dmaengine-pcm.c b/sound/soc/soc-generic-dmaengine-pcm.c
index 6fd1906af387..6cef3977507a 100644
--- a/sound/soc/soc-generic-dmaengine-pcm.c
+++ b/sound/soc/soc-generic-dmaengine-pcm.c
@@ -163,31 +163,42 @@ static int dmaengine_pcm_set_runtime_hwparams(struct snd_pcm_substream *substrea
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * Prepare formats mask for valid/allowed sample types. If the dma does
-	 * not have support for the given physical word size, it needs to be
-	 * masked out so user space can not use the format which produces
-	 * corrupted audio.
-	 * In case the dma driver does not implement the slave_caps the default
-	 * assumption is that it supports 1, 2 and 4 bytes widths.
+	 * If SND_DMAENGINE_PCM_DAI_FLAG_PACK is set keep
+	 * hw.formats set to 0, meaning no restrictions are in place.
+	 * In this case it's the responsibility of the DAI driver to
+	 * provide the supported format information.
 	 */
-	for (i = 0; i <= SNDRV_PCM_FORMAT_LAST; i++) {
-		int bits = snd_pcm_format_physical_width(i);
+	if (!(dma_data->flags & SND_DMAENGINE_PCM_DAI_FLAG_PACK))
+		/*
+		 * Prepare formats mask for valid/allowed sample types. If the
+		 * dma does not have support for the given physical word size,
+		 * it needs to be masked out so user space can not use the
+		 * format which produces corrupted audio.
+		 * In case the dma driver does not implement the slave_caps the
+		 * default assumption is that it supports 1, 2 and 4 bytes
+		 * widths.
+		 */
+		for (i = 0; i <= SNDRV_PCM_FORMAT_LAST; i++) {
+			int bits = snd_pcm_format_physical_width(i);
 
-		/* Enable only samples with DMA supported physical widths */
-		switch (bits) {
-		case 8:
-		case 16:
-		case 24:
-		case 32:
-		case 64:
-			if (addr_widths & (1 << (bits / 8)))
-				hw.formats |= (1LL << i);
-			break;
-		default:
-			/* Unsupported types */
-			break;
+			/*
+			 * Enable only samples with DMA supported physical
+			 * widths
+			 */
+			switch (bits) {
+			case 8:
+			case 16:
+			case 24:
+			case 32:
+			case 64:
+				if (addr_widths & (1 << (bits / 8)))
+					hw.formats |= (1LL << i);
+				break;
+			default:
+				/* Unsupported types */
+				break;
+			}
 		}
-	}
 
 	return snd_soc_set_runtime_hwparams(substream, &hw);
 }