diff --git a/src/pipewire/buffers.c b/src/pipewire/buffers.c
index 1ba98b183..f15f75753 100644
--- a/src/pipewire/buffers.c
+++ b/src/pipewire/buffers.c
@@ -319,6 +319,10 @@ int pw_buffers_negotiate(struct pw_context *context, uint32_t flags,
 		max_buffers = 2;
 	}
 
+	if (types == SPA_ID_INVALID &&
+	    SPA_FLAG_IS_SET(flags, PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_SHARED_MEM))
+		types = 1<<SPA_DATA_MemFd;
+
 	if (SPA_FLAG_IS_SET(flags, PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_NO_MEM))
 		minsize = 0;
 
diff --git a/src/pipewire/buffers.h b/src/pipewire/buffers.h
index d20bdbb8c..df72bf3f8 100644
--- a/src/pipewire/buffers.h
+++ b/src/pipewire/buffers.h
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ extern "C" {
 #define PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_NO_MEM		(1<<0)	/**< don't allocate buffer memory */
 #define PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_SHARED		(1<<1)	/**< buffers can be shared */
 #define PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_DYNAMIC		(1<<2)	/**< buffers have dynamic data */
+#define PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_SHARED_MEM	(1<<3)	/**< buffers need shared memory */
 
 struct pw_buffers {
 	struct pw_memblock *mem;	/**< allocated buffer memory */
diff --git a/src/pipewire/impl-link.c b/src/pipewire/impl-link.c
index b357d97ab..178cea079 100644
--- a/src/pipewire/impl-link.c
+++ b/src/pipewire/impl-link.c
@@ -516,6 +516,9 @@ static int do_allocation(struct pw_impl_link *this)
 		flags = 0;
 		/* always shared buffers for the link */
 		alloc_flags = PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_SHARED;
+		if (output->node->remote || input->node->remote)
+			alloc_flags |= PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_SHARED_MEM;
+
 		/* if output port can alloc buffers, alloc skeleton buffers */
 		if (SPA_FLAG_IS_SET(out_flags, SPA_PORT_FLAG_CAN_ALLOC_BUFFERS)) {
 			SPA_FLAG_SET(alloc_flags, PW_BUFFERS_FLAG_NO_MEM);