diff --git a/src/config.c b/src/config.c
index a0313d128..bf56dac38 100644
--- a/src/config.c
+++ b/src/config.c
@@ -3096,6 +3096,8 @@ standardConfig static_configs[] = {
     createBoolConfig("cluster-require-full-coverage", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.cluster_require_full_coverage, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("rdb-save-incremental-fsync", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.rdb_save_incremental_fsync, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("aof-load-truncated", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.aof_load_truncated, 1, NULL, NULL),
+    /* When AOF is enabled on startup but no AOF files exist, optionally load RDB */
+    createBoolConfig("aof-load-rdb-on-startup", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.aof_load_rdb_on_startup, 0, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("aof-use-rdb-preamble", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.aof_use_rdb_preamble, 1, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("aof-timestamp-enabled", NULL, MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.aof_timestamp_enabled, 0, NULL, NULL),
     createBoolConfig("cluster-replica-no-failover", "cluster-slave-no-failover", MODIFIABLE_CONFIG, server.cluster_slave_no_failover, 0, NULL, updateClusterFlags), /* Failover by default. */
diff --git a/src/server.c b/src/server.c
index b56c6d3fb..e8d8847ae 100644
--- a/src/server.c
+++ b/src/server.c
@@ -7176,9 +7176,63 @@ void loadDataFromDisk(void) {
         int ret = loadAppendOnlyFiles(server.aof_manifest);
         if (ret == AOF_FAILED || ret == AOF_OPEN_ERR)
             exit(1);
-        if (ret != AOF_NOT_EXIST)
+
+        if (ret == AOF_NOT_EXIST || ret == AOF_EMPTY) {
+            /* Optionally fall back to loading RDB when no usable AOF exists */
+            if (server.aof_load_rdb_on_startup) {
+                rdbSaveInfo rsi = RDB_SAVE_INFO_INIT;
+                int rsi_is_valid = 0;
+                errno = 0;
+                int rdb_flags = RDBFLAGS_NONE;
+                if (iAmMaster()) {
+                    /* Master may delete expired keys when loading, we should
+                     * propagate expire to replication backlog. */
+                    createReplicationBacklog();
+                    rdb_flags |= RDBFLAGS_FEED_REPL;
+                }
+                int rdb_load_ret = rdbLoad(server.rdb_filename, &rsi, rdb_flags);
+                if (rdb_load_ret == RDB_OK) {
+                    serverLog(LL_NOTICE,
+                        "AOF not found/empty, DB loaded from RDB due to aof-load-rdb-on-startup: %.3f seconds",
+                        (float)(ustime()-start)/1000000);
+
+                    if (rsi.repl_id_is_set && rsi.repl_offset != -1 && rsi.repl_stream_db != -1) {
+                        rsi_is_valid = 1;
+                        if (!iAmMaster()) {
+                            memcpy(server.replid,rsi.repl_id,sizeof(server.replid));
+                            server.master_repl_offset = rsi.repl_offset;
+                            replicationCacheMasterUsingMyself();
+                            selectDb(server.cached_master,rsi.repl_stream_db);
+                        } else {
+                            memcpy(server.replid2,rsi.repl_id,sizeof(server.replid));
+                            server.second_replid_offset = rsi.repl_offset+1;
+                            server.master_repl_offset += rsi.repl_offset;
+                            serverAssert(server.repl_backlog);
+                            server.repl_backlog->offset = server.master_repl_offset -
+                                      server.repl_backlog->histlen + 1;
+                            rebaseReplicationBuffer(rsi.repl_offset);
+                            server.repl_no_slaves_since = time(NULL);
+                        }
+                    }
+                } else if (rdb_load_ret == RDB_NOT_EXIST) {
+                    serverLog(LL_NOTICE,
+                        "AOF not found/empty and no RDB found, starting with empty dataset");
+                } else {
+                    serverLog(LL_WARNING, "Fatal error loading the DB, check server logs. Exiting.");
+                    exit(1);
+                }
+
+                /* Drop backlog if partial resync is not possible */
+                if (!rsi_is_valid && server.repl_backlog)
+                    freeReplicationBacklog();
+            } else {
+                serverLog(LL_NOTICE,
+                    "AOF not found/empty and aof-load-rdb-on-startup is disabled, starting with empty dataset");
+            }
+        } else {
             serverLog(LL_NOTICE, "DB loaded from append only file: %.3f seconds", (float)(ustime()-start)/1000000);
-        updateReplOffsetAndResetEndOffset();
+            updateReplOffsetAndResetEndOffset();
+        }
     } else {
         rdbSaveInfo rsi = RDB_SAVE_INFO_INIT;
         int rsi_is_valid = 0;
diff --git a/src/server.h b/src/server.h
index 1e537e2a7..cd2506287 100644
--- a/src/server.h
+++ b/src/server.h
@@ -2088,6 +2088,7 @@ struct redisServer {
     aofManifest *aof_manifest;       /* Used to track AOFs. */
     int aof_disable_auto_gc;         /* If disable automatically deleting HISTORY type AOFs?
                                         default no. (for testings). */
+    int aof_load_rdb_on_startup;     /* If AOF is enabled but no AOF exists, load RDB on startup. */
 
     /* RDB persistence */
     long long dirty;                /* Changes to DB from the last save */
diff --git a/tests/integration/aof-rdb-fallback.tcl b/tests/integration/aof-rdb-fallback.tcl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2094c6322
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/integration/aof-rdb-fallback.tcl
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+set server_path [tmpdir aof.rdb.fallback]
+
+tags {aof} {
+    # Stage 1: Create an RDB snapshot without AOF present.
+    start_server [list overrides [list dir $server_path appendonly {no}] keep_persistence true] {
+        test {Prepare dataset and force RDB SAVE} {
+            r set foo bar
+            r save
+        }
+    }
+
+    # Sanity: Starting with AOF enabled, without fallback, should not load RDB.
+    start_server [list overrides [list dir $server_path appendonly {yes}] keep_persistence true] {
+        test {Without fallback, AOF enabled but missing: dataset is empty} {
+            assert_equal 0 [r exists foo]
+        }
+    }
+
+    # Remove any AOF artifacts to simulate missing AOF before fallback test
+    catch { exec rm -rf [file join $server_path appendonlydir] }
+
+    # Stage 2: Enable fallback and verify RDB is loaded and AOF is active.
+    start_server [list overrides [list dir $server_path appendonly {yes} aof-load-rdb-on-startup {yes}] keep_persistence true] {
+        test {With fallback, AOF enabled and missing: load RDB on startup} {
+            assert_equal {bar} [r get foo]
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+