diff --git a/src/corelib/global/qflags.h b/src/corelib/global/qflags.h
index 93dbedc9305..feeb488acd1 100644
--- a/src/corelib/global/qflags.h
+++ b/src/corelib/global/qflags.h
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@
 
 QT_BEGIN_NAMESPACE
 
+class QDataStream;
+
 class QFlag
 {
     int i;
@@ -95,6 +97,8 @@ class QFlags
 
     struct Private;
     typedef int (Private::*Zero);
+    template <typename E> friend QDataStream &operator>>(QDataStream &, QFlags<E> &);
+    template <typename E> friend QDataStream &operator<<(QDataStream &, QFlags<E>);
 public:
 #if defined(Q_CC_MSVC) || defined(Q_QDOC)
     // see above for MSVC
diff --git a/src/corelib/io/qdatastream.h b/src/corelib/io/qdatastream.h
index ecd55f71aee..db1bbfbd63b 100644
--- a/src/corelib/io/qdatastream.h
+++ b/src/corelib/io/qdatastream.h
@@ -359,6 +359,14 @@ inline QDataStream &QDataStream::operator<<(quint32 i)
 inline QDataStream &QDataStream::operator<<(quint64 i)
 { return *this << qint64(i); }
 
+template <typename Enum>
+inline QDataStream &operator<<(QDataStream &s, QFlags<Enum> e)
+{ return s << e.i; }
+
+template <typename Enum>
+inline QDataStream &operator>>(QDataStream &s, QFlags<Enum> &e)
+{ return s >> e.i; }
+
 template <typename T>
 inline QDataStream &operator>>(QDataStream &s, QList<T> &l)
 {