diff --git a/image/copy/copy.go b/image/copy/copy.go
index cc165ff711..11652ff590 100644
--- a/image/copy/copy.go
+++ b/image/copy/copy.go
@@ -71,6 +71,22 @@ const (
 // specific images from the source reference.
 type ImageListSelection int
 
+const (
+	// KeepSparseManifestList is the default value which, when set in
+	// Options.SparseManifestListAction, indicates that the manifest is kept
+	// as is even though some images from the list may be missing. Some
+	// registries may not support this.
+	KeepSparseManifestList SparseManifestListAction = iota
+
+	// StripSparseManifestList will strip missing images from the manifest
+	// list. When images are stripped the digest will differ from the original.
+	StripSparseManifestList
+)
+
+// SparseManifestListAction is one of KeepSparseManifestList or StripSparseManifestList
+// to control the behavior when only a subset of images from a manifest list is copied
+type SparseManifestListAction int
+
 // Options allows supplying non-default configuration modifying the behavior of CopyImage.
 type Options struct {
 	RemoveSignatures bool // Remove any pre-existing signatures. Signers and SignBy… will still add a new signature.
@@ -129,6 +145,10 @@ type Options struct {
 	// to not indicate "nondistributable".
 	DownloadForeignLayers bool
 
+	// When only a subset of images of a list is copied, this action indicates if the manifest should be kept or stripped.
+	// See CopySpecificImages.
+	SparseManifestListAction SparseManifestListAction
+
 	// Contains slice of OptionCompressionVariant, where copy will ensure that for each platform
 	// in the manifest list, a variant with the requested compression will exist.
 	// Invalid when copying a non-multi-architecture image. That will probably
diff --git a/image/copy/multiple.go b/image/copy/multiple.go
index 9ab82f9bb0..ab12323fcb 100644
--- a/image/copy/multiple.go
+++ b/image/copy/multiple.go
@@ -289,6 +289,41 @@ func (c *copier) copyMultipleImages(ctx context.Context) (copiedManifest []byte,
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("updating manifest list: %w", err)
 	}
 
+	// Remove skipped instances from the manifest list if StripSparseManifestList is enabled
+	if c.options.ImageListSelection == CopySpecificImages && c.options.SparseManifestListAction == StripSparseManifestList {
+		// Build a set of digests that were copied
+		copiedDigests := set.New[digest.Digest]()
+		for _, instance := range instanceCopyList {
+			copiedDigests.Add(instance.sourceDigest)
+		}
+
+		// Find which indices were skipped
+		var indicesToDelete []int
+		for i, instanceDigest := range instanceDigests {
+			if !copiedDigests.Contains(instanceDigest) {
+				indicesToDelete = append(indicesToDelete, i)
+			}
+		}
+
+		// Build delete operations for skipped instances
+		// Delete from highest to lowest index to avoid shifting
+		var deleteEdits []internalManifest.ListEdit
+		for i := len(indicesToDelete) - 1; i >= 0; i-- {
+			deleteEdits = append(deleteEdits, internalManifest.ListEdit{
+				ListOperation: internalManifest.ListOpDelete,
+				DeleteIndex:   indicesToDelete[i],
+			})
+		}
+
+		// Remove skipped instances from the manifest list using EditInstances
+		if len(deleteEdits) > 0 {
+			logrus.Debugf("Removing %d instances from manifest list", len(deleteEdits))
+			if err := updatedList.EditInstances(deleteEdits, false); err != nil {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("stripping sparse manifest list: %w", err)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Iterate through supported list types, preferred format first.
 	c.Printf("Writing manifest list to image destination\n")
 	var errs []string
diff --git a/image/internal/manifest/docker_schema2_list.go b/image/internal/manifest/docker_schema2_list.go
index af4cda5bdb..886a248bb6 100644
--- a/image/internal/manifest/docker_schema2_list.go
+++ b/image/internal/manifest/docker_schema2_list.go
@@ -132,6 +132,12 @@ func (list *Schema2ListPublic) editInstances(editInstances []ListEdit, cannotMod
 				},
 				schema2PlatformSpecFromOCIPlatform(*editInstance.AddPlatform),
 			})
+		case ListOpDelete:
+			if editInstance.DeleteIndex < 0 || editInstance.DeleteIndex >= len(list.Manifests) {
+				return fmt.Errorf("Schema2List.EditInstances: invalid delete index %d (list has %d instances)", editInstance.DeleteIndex, len(list.Manifests))
+			}
+			// Remove the element by appending slices before and after the target index
+			list.Manifests = append(list.Manifests[:editInstance.DeleteIndex], list.Manifests[editInstance.DeleteIndex+1:]...)
 		default:
 			return fmt.Errorf("internal error: invalid operation: %d", editInstance.ListOperation)
 		}
diff --git a/image/internal/manifest/list.go b/image/internal/manifest/list.go
index a0d535891e..82b237ff21 100644
--- a/image/internal/manifest/list.go
+++ b/image/internal/manifest/list.go
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ const (
 	listOpInvalid ListOp = iota
 	ListOpAdd
 	ListOpUpdate
+	ListOpDelete
 )
 
 // ListEdit includes the fields which a List's EditInstances() method will modify.
@@ -105,6 +106,9 @@ type ListEdit struct {
 	AddPlatform              *imgspecv1.Platform
 	AddAnnotations           map[string]string
 	AddCompressionAlgorithms []compression.Algorithm
+
+	// If Op = ListOpDelete. Must delete from highest index to lowest to avoid index shifting.
+	DeleteIndex int
 }
 
 // ListPublicFromBlob parses a list of manifests.
diff --git a/image/internal/manifest/list_test.go b/image/internal/manifest/list_test.go
index fb758369ed..b7cb1fe3d4 100644
--- a/image/internal/manifest/list_test.go
+++ b/image/internal/manifest/list_test.go
@@ -159,3 +159,40 @@ func TestChooseInstance(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+// TestListDeleteInstances tests the ListOpDelete functionality for both OCI and Docker manifest formats.
+func TestListDeleteInstances(t *testing.T) {
+	manifestFiles := []string{
+		"ociv1.image.index.json",
+		"v2list.manifest.json",
+	}
+
+	for _, manifestFile := range manifestFiles {
+		t.Run(manifestFile, func(t *testing.T) {
+			validManifest, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join("testdata", manifestFile))
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			list, err := ListFromBlob(validManifest, GuessMIMEType(validManifest))
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+
+			originalInstances := list.Instances()
+			require.GreaterOrEqual(t, len(originalInstances), 1)
+
+			// Test successful deletion
+			err = list.EditInstances([]ListEdit{{
+				ListOperation: ListOpDelete,
+				DeleteIndex:   0,
+			}}, false)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			assert.Equal(t, len(originalInstances)-1, len(list.Instances()))
+			assert.Equal(t, originalInstances[1:], list.Instances())
+
+			// Test error on invalid index
+			err = list.EditInstances([]ListEdit{{
+				ListOperation: ListOpDelete,
+				DeleteIndex:   999,
+			}}, false)
+			assert.Error(t, err)
+			assert.Contains(t, err.Error(), "invalid delete index")
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/image/internal/manifest/oci_index.go b/image/internal/manifest/oci_index.go
index 4e4060255a..ef234a40f5 100644
--- a/image/internal/manifest/oci_index.go
+++ b/image/internal/manifest/oci_index.go
@@ -176,6 +176,12 @@ func (index *OCI1IndexPublic) editInstances(editInstances []ListEdit, cannotModi
 				Platform:     editInstance.AddPlatform,
 				Annotations:  annotations,
 			})
+		case ListOpDelete:
+			if editInstance.DeleteIndex < 0 || editInstance.DeleteIndex >= len(index.Manifests) {
+				return fmt.Errorf("OCI1Index.EditInstances: invalid delete index %d (list has %d instances)", editInstance.DeleteIndex, len(index.Manifests))
+			}
+			// Remove the element by appending slices before and after the target index
+			index.Manifests = append(index.Manifests[:editInstance.DeleteIndex], index.Manifests[editInstance.DeleteIndex+1:]...)
 		default:
 			return fmt.Errorf("internal error: invalid operation: %d", editInstance.ListOperation)
 		}