diff --git a/src/shared/pretty-print.c b/src/shared/pretty-print.c
index 2c46f3e2dc..470aaf77ca 100644
--- a/src/shared/pretty-print.c
+++ b/src/shared/pretty-print.c
@@ -461,6 +461,12 @@ bool shall_tint_background(void) {
 
 void draw_progress_bar(const char *prefix, double percentage) {
 
+        /* We are going output a bunch of small strings that shall appear as a single line to STDERR which is
+         * unbuffered by default. Let's temporarily turn on full buffering, so that this is passed to the tty
+         * as a single buffer, to make things more efficient. */
+        char buffer[LONG_LINE_MAX];
+        setvbuf(stderr, buffer, _IOFBF, sizeof(buffer));
+
         fputc('\r', stderr);
         if (prefix)
                 fputs(prefix, stderr);
@@ -512,10 +518,16 @@ void draw_progress_bar(const char *prefix, double percentage) {
 
         fputc('\r', stderr);
         fflush(stderr);
+
+        /* Disable buffering again */
+        setvbuf(stderr, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
 }
 
 void clear_progress_bar(const char *prefix) {
 
+        char buffer[LONG_LINE_MAX];
+        setvbuf(stderr, buffer, _IOFBF, sizeof(buffer));
+
         fputc('\r', stderr);
 
         if (terminal_is_dumb())
@@ -526,4 +538,7 @@ void clear_progress_bar(const char *prefix) {
 
         fputc('\r', stderr);
         fflush(stderr);
+
+        /* Disable buffering again */
+        setvbuf(stderr, NULL, _IONBF, 0);
 }