diff --git a/include/spdk/bdev.h b/include/spdk/bdev.h
index 7f621abfa..dec0e0c05 100644
--- a/include/spdk/bdev.h
+++ b/include/spdk/bdev.h
@@ -199,6 +199,14 @@ bool spdk_bdev_io_type_supported(struct spdk_bdev *bdev, enum spdk_bdev_io_type
 
 int spdk_bdev_dump_config_json(struct spdk_bdev *bdev, struct spdk_json_write_ctx *w);
 
+/**
+ * Get minimum I/O buffer address alignment for a bdev.
+ *
+ * \param bdev Block device to query.
+ * \return Required alignment of I/O buffers in bytes.
+ */
+size_t spdk_bdev_get_buf_align(const struct spdk_bdev *bdev);
+
 struct spdk_bdev_io *spdk_bdev_read(struct spdk_bdev *bdev, struct spdk_io_channel *ch,
 				    void *buf, uint64_t offset, uint64_t nbytes,
 				    spdk_bdev_io_completion_cb cb, void *cb_arg);
diff --git a/lib/bdev/bdev.c b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
index 237bda75c..75d53bdbd 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/bdev.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
@@ -532,6 +532,17 @@ spdk_bdev_get_io_channel(struct spdk_bdev *bdev, uint32_t priority)
 	return spdk_get_io_channel(bdev, priority, false, NULL);
 }
 
+size_t
+spdk_bdev_get_buf_align(const struct spdk_bdev *bdev)
+{
+	/* TODO: push this logic down to the bdev modules */
+	if (bdev->need_aligned_buffer) {
+		return bdev->blocklen;
+	}
+
+	return 1;
+}
+
 static int
 spdk_bdev_io_valid(struct spdk_bdev *bdev, uint64_t offset, uint64_t nbytes)
 {
diff --git a/test/lib/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c b/test/lib/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c
index efbef9a5a..638dfaeec 100644
--- a/test/lib/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c
+++ b/test/lib/bdev/bdevperf/bdevperf.c
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
 #include "spdk/env.h"
 #include "spdk/event.h"
 #include "spdk/log.h"
+#include "spdk/util.h"
 #include "spdk/io_channel.h"
 
 struct bdevperf_task {
@@ -96,7 +97,7 @@ static int g_target_count = 0;
  *  require alignment based on block length - for example,
  *  AIO blockdevs.
  */
-static uint32_t g_min_alignment = 8;
+static size_t g_min_alignment = 8;
 
 static void
 blockdev_heads_init(void)
@@ -114,6 +115,7 @@ bdevperf_construct_targets(void)
 	int index = 0;
 	struct spdk_bdev *bdev;
 	struct io_target *target;
+	size_t align;
 
 	bdev = spdk_bdev_first();
 	while (bdev != NULL) {
@@ -145,9 +147,12 @@ bdevperf_construct_targets(void)
 		target->offset_in_ios = 0;
 		target->size_in_ios = (bdev->blockcnt * bdev->blocklen) /
 				      g_io_size;
-		if (bdev->need_aligned_buffer && g_min_alignment < bdev->blocklen) {
-			g_min_alignment = bdev->blocklen;
-		}
+		align = spdk_bdev_get_buf_align(bdev);
+		/*
+		 * TODO: This should actually use the LCM of align and g_min_alignment, but
+		 * it is fairly safe to assume all alignments are powers of two for now.
+		 */
+		g_min_alignment = spdk_max(g_min_alignment, align);
 
 		target->is_draining = false;
 		target->run_timer = NULL;