A virtualized copy-by-reference includes: receiving, from a first computer system, a request for reference information for source data within a source volume; providing, to the first computer system, the reference information, wherein the reference information corresponds to a metadata representation of the source data; receiving, from a second computer system, a request to write the source data to a target volume, and wherein the request to write the source data indicates the reference information; and copying, using the reference information, the metadata representation of the source data to the target volume.