diff --git a/include/spdk/io_channel.h b/include/spdk/io_channel.h
index 67d64f240..5eb4305a9 100644
--- a/include/spdk/io_channel.h
+++ b/include/spdk/io_channel.h
@@ -154,6 +154,12 @@ void spdk_put_io_channel(struct spdk_io_channel *ch);
  */
 void *spdk_io_channel_get_ctx(struct spdk_io_channel *ch);
 
+/**
+ *  \brief Returns an I/O channel from a context buffer. This is
+ * the inverse of spdk_io_channel_get_ctx().
+ */
+struct spdk_io_channel *spdk_io_channel_from_ctx(void *ctx);
+
 /**
  * \brief Returns the spdk_thread associated with an I/O channel.
  */
diff --git a/lib/util/io_channel.c b/lib/util/io_channel.c
index 4a1b1bbc8..2272cecf2 100644
--- a/lib/util/io_channel.c
+++ b/lib/util/io_channel.c
@@ -400,6 +400,12 @@ spdk_io_channel_get_ctx(struct spdk_io_channel *ch)
 	return (uint8_t *)ch + sizeof(*ch);
 }
 
+struct spdk_io_channel *
+spdk_io_channel_from_ctx(void *ctx)
+{
+	return (struct spdk_io_channel *)((uint8_t *)ctx - sizeof(struct spdk_io_channel));
+}
+
 struct spdk_thread *
 spdk_io_channel_get_thread(struct spdk_io_channel *ch)
 {