diff --git a/archive/archive_test.go b/archive/archive_test.go
index 816514daa9..5e9ae3a0f7 100644
--- a/archive/archive_test.go
+++ b/archive/archive_test.go
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ func indexQuery(t *testing.T, ark *Archive, query IndexQuery, opts ...FindOption
 	defer rc.Close()
 
 	var buf bytes.Buffer
-	w := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(&buf))
+	w := tzngio.NewWriter(&buf)
 	require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(w, rc))
 
 	return buf.String()
diff --git a/cmd/zapi/cmd/get/get.go b/cmd/zapi/cmd/get/get.go
index e58a17aa8f..0c8696fcb2 100644
--- a/cmd/zapi/cmd/get/get.go
+++ b/cmd/zapi/cmd/get/get.go
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ func (c *Command) Run(args []string) error {
 	}
 	stream := api.NewZngSearch(r)
 	stream.SetOnCtrl(c.handleControl)
-	if err := zbuf.Copy(zbuf.NopFlusher(writer), stream); err != nil {
+	if err := zbuf.Copy(writer, stream); err != nil {
 		writer.Close()
 		if c.Context().Err() != nil {
 			return errors.New("search aborted")
diff --git a/emitter/dir_test.go b/emitter/dir_test.go
index 8431c5bb94..c733eaf686 100644
--- a/emitter/dir_test.go
+++ b/emitter/dir_test.go
@@ -38,8 +38,7 @@ func TestDirS3Source(t *testing.T) {
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	w, err := NewDirWithSource(uri, "", os.Stderr, &zio.WriterFlags{Format: "tzng"}, src)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	err = zbuf.Copy(zbuf.NopFlusher(w), r)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(w, r))
 }
 
 type nopCloser struct{ *bytes.Buffer }
diff --git a/zbuf/counter_test.go b/zbuf/counter_test.go
index 2ee1be1d28..f088b4b219 100644
--- a/zbuf/counter_test.go
+++ b/zbuf/counter_test.go
@@ -16,10 +16,6 @@ func (n *Sink) Write(rec *zng.Record) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (n *Sink) Flush() error {
-	return nil
-}
-
 func TestCounter(t *testing.T) {
 	var count int64
 	var wg sync.WaitGroup
diff --git a/zbuf/zng.go b/zbuf/zng.go
index 73aaf931ad..80fc1c6db4 100644
--- a/zbuf/zng.go
+++ b/zbuf/zng.go
@@ -68,33 +68,23 @@ func NewReadCloser(r Reader, c io.Closer) ReadCloser {
 	return extReadCloser{r, c}
 }
 
-func CopyWithContext(ctx context.Context, dst WriteFlusher, src Reader) error {
-	var err error
-	for ctx.Err() == nil {
-		var rec *zng.Record
-		rec, err = src.Read()
+func CopyWithContext(ctx context.Context, dst Writer, src Reader) error {
+	for {
+		if err := ctx.Err(); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		rec, err := src.Read()
 		if err != nil || rec == nil {
-			break
+			return err
 		}
-		err = dst.Write(rec)
-		if err != nil {
-			break
+		if err := dst.Write(rec); err != nil {
+			return err
 		}
 	}
-	dstErr := dst.Flush()
-	switch {
-	case err != nil:
-		return err
-	case dstErr != nil:
-		return dstErr
-	default:
-		return ctx.Err()
-	}
 }
 
-// Copy copies src to dst a la io.Copy.  The src reader is read from
-// while the dst writer is written to and closed.
-func Copy(dst WriteFlusher, src Reader) error {
+// Copy copies src to dst a la io.Copy.
+func Copy(dst Writer, src Reader) error {
 	return CopyWithContext(context.Background(), dst, src)
 }
 
diff --git a/zdx/zdx.go b/zdx/zdx.go
index 8257e44266..3e5209bb9e 100644
--- a/zdx/zdx.go
+++ b/zdx/zdx.go
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 // below in the hiearchy where the key is the first key found in that stream and
 // the value is the offset or the stream in the file below.
 //
-// zdx.Reader implements zbuf.Reader and zdx.Writer implements zbuf.Writer and
-// zbuf.WriteFlusher so generic zng functionality applies, e.g., a Reader can be
-// copied to a Writer using zbuf.Copy().
+// zdx.Reader implements zbuf.Reader and zdx.Writer implements zbuf.Writer so
+// generic zng functionality applies, e.g., a Reader can be copied to a Writer
+// using zbuf.Copy().
 package zdx
 
 import (
diff --git a/zio/ndjsonio/ndjson_test.go b/zio/ndjsonio/ndjson_test.go
index 0941aa1734..6e4a74b3a8 100644
--- a/zio/ndjsonio/ndjson_test.go
+++ b/zio/ndjsonio/ndjson_test.go
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ func TestNDJSONWriter(t *testing.T) {
 			var out bytes.Buffer
 			w := NewWriter(&out)
 			r := tzngio.NewReader(strings.NewReader(c.input), resolver.NewContext())
-			require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(zbuf.NopFlusher(w), r))
+			require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(w, r))
 			NDJSONEq(t, c.output, out.String())
 		})
 	}
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ func runtestcase(t *testing.T, input, output string) {
 	w := NewWriter(&out)
 	r, err := NewReader(strings.NewReader(input), resolver.NewContext(), nil, "", "")
 	require.NoError(t, err)
-	require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(zbuf.NopFlusher(w), r))
+	require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(w, r))
 	NDJSONEq(t, output, out.String())
 }
 
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ func TestNDJSONTypeErrors(t *testing.T) {
 			err = r.configureTypes(typeConfig, c.defaultPath)
 			require.NoError(t, err)
 
-			err = zbuf.Copy(zbuf.NopFlusher(w), r)
+			err = zbuf.Copy(w, r)
 			if c.success {
 				require.NoError(t, err)
 			} else {
diff --git a/zio/tzngio/reader_test.go b/zio/tzngio/reader_test.go
index 12bc9b0068..8645b16358 100644
--- a/zio/tzngio/reader_test.go
+++ b/zio/tzngio/reader_test.go
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ func boomerangErr(t *testing.T, name, logs, errorMsg string, errorArgs ...interf
 	t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
 		in := []byte(strings.TrimSpace(logs) + "\n")
 		zngSrc := tzngio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(in), resolver.NewContext())
-		zngDst := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(&output{}))
+		zngDst := tzngio.NewWriter(&output{})
 		err := zbuf.Copy(zngDst, zngSrc)
 		assert.Errorf(t, err, errorMsg, errorArgs...)
 	})
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ func boomerang(t *testing.T, name, logs string) {
 		var out output
 		in := []byte(strings.TrimSpace(logs) + "\n")
 		zngSrc := tzngio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(in), resolver.NewContext())
-		zngDst := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(&out))
+		zngDst := tzngio.NewWriter(&out)
 		err := zbuf.Copy(zngDst, zngSrc)
 		require.NoError(t, err)
 		assert.Equal(t, string(in), out.String())
diff --git a/zio/zng_test.go b/zio/zng_test.go
index fcce635201..eae5ca3b70 100644
--- a/zio/zng_test.go
+++ b/zio/zng_test.go
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ func (o *Output) Close() error {
 
 func identity(t *testing.T, logs string) {
 	var out Output
-	dst := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(&out))
+	dst := tzngio.NewWriter(&out)
 	in := []byte(strings.TrimSpace(logs) + "\n")
 	src := tzngio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(in), resolver.NewContext())
 	err := zbuf.Copy(dst, src)
@@ -43,13 +43,13 @@ func boomerang(t *testing.T, logs string, compress bool) {
 	tzngSrc := tzngio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(in), resolver.NewContext())
 	var rawzng Output
 	rawDst := zngio.NewWriter(&rawzng, zio.WriterFlags{ZngLZ4BlockSize: zio.DefaultZngLZ4BlockSize})
-	err := zbuf.Copy(rawDst, tzngSrc)
-	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(rawDst, tzngSrc))
+	require.NoError(t, rawDst.Flush())
 
 	var out Output
 	rawSrc := zngio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(rawzng.Bytes()), resolver.NewContext())
-	tzngDst := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(&out))
-	err = zbuf.Copy(tzngDst, rawSrc)
+	tzngDst := tzngio.NewWriter(&out)
+	err := zbuf.Copy(tzngDst, rawSrc)
 	if assert.NoError(t, err) {
 		assert.Equal(t, in, out.Bytes())
 	}
@@ -58,13 +58,13 @@ func boomerang(t *testing.T, logs string, compress bool) {
 func boomerangZJSON(t *testing.T, logs string) {
 	tzngSrc := tzngio.NewReader(strings.NewReader(logs), resolver.NewContext())
 	var zjsonOutput Output
-	zjsonDst := zbuf.NopFlusher(zjsonio.NewWriter(&zjsonOutput))
+	zjsonDst := zjsonio.NewWriter(&zjsonOutput)
 	err := zbuf.Copy(zjsonDst, tzngSrc)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 
 	var out Output
 	zjsonSrc := zjsonio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(zjsonOutput.Bytes()), resolver.NewContext())
-	tzngDst := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(&out))
+	tzngDst := tzngio.NewWriter(&out)
 	err = zbuf.Copy(tzngDst, zjsonSrc)
 	if assert.NoError(t, err) {
 		assert.Equal(t, strings.TrimSpace(logs), strings.TrimSpace(out.String()))
diff --git a/zqd/handlers_test.go b/zqd/handlers_test.go
index 914e634cc7..57f1d974df 100644
--- a/zqd/handlers_test.go
+++ b/zqd/handlers_test.go
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ func TestSearchNoCtrl(t *testing.T) {
 		msgs = append(msgs, i)
 	})
 	buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
-	w := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(buf))
+	w := tzngio.NewWriter(buf)
 	require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(w, r))
 	require.Equal(t, test.Trim(src), buf.String())
 	require.Equal(t, 0, len(msgs))
@@ -1032,7 +1032,7 @@ func archiveStat(t *testing.T, client *api.Connection, space api.SpaceID) string
 	r, err := client.ArchiveStat(context.Background(), space, nil)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
-	w := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(buf))
+	w := tzngio.NewWriter(buf)
 	require.NoError(t, zbuf.Copy(w, r))
 	return buf.String()
 }
@@ -1045,7 +1045,7 @@ func indexSearch(t *testing.T, client *api.Connection, space api.SpaceID, indexN
 	r, err := client.IndexSearch(context.Background(), space, req, nil)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
-	w := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(buf))
+	w := tzngio.NewWriter(buf)
 	var msgs []interface{}
 	r.SetOnCtrl(func(i interface{}) {
 		msgs = append(msgs, i)
@@ -1071,7 +1071,7 @@ func search(t *testing.T, client *api.Connection, space api.SpaceID, prog string
 	r, err := client.Search(context.Background(), req, nil)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
-	w := zbuf.NopFlusher(tzngio.NewWriter(buf))
+	w := tzngio.NewWriter(buf)
 	var msgs []interface{}
 	r.SetOnCtrl(func(i interface{}) {
 		msgs = append(msgs, i)