diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_core.h b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_core.h
index 17a8aa995..2a6ee9b5a 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_core.h
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_core.h
@@ -890,17 +890,6 @@ private:
 
   ResourceDescription &GetResourceDesc(ResourceId id);
 
-  bool Prepare_SparseInitialState(WrappedVkBuffer *buf);
-  bool Prepare_SparseInitialState(WrappedVkImage *im);
-  template <typename SerialiserType>
-  bool Serialise_SparseBufferInitialState(SerialiserType &ser, ResourceId id,
-                                          const VkInitialContents *contents);
-  template <typename SerialiserType>
-  bool Serialise_SparseImageInitialState(SerialiserType &ser, ResourceId id,
-                                         const VkInitialContents *contents);
-  bool Apply_SparseInitialState(WrappedVkBuffer *buf, const VkInitialContents &contents);
-  bool Apply_SparseInitialState(WrappedVkImage *im, const VkInitialContents &contents);
-
   void ApplyInitialContents();
 
   rdcarray<APIEvent> m_RootEvents, m_Events;
@@ -914,6 +903,8 @@ private:
 
   ResourceId m_LastPresentedImage;
 
+  std::set<ResourceId> m_SparseBindResources;
+
   ReplayStatus m_FailedReplayStatus = ReplayStatus::APIReplayFailed;
 
   VulkanDrawcallTreeNode m_ParentDrawcall;
diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_initstate.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_initstate.cpp
index 73a950893..b75602e22 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_initstate.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/vk_initstate.cpp
@@ -1839,7 +1839,11 @@ void WrappedVulkan::Apply_InitialState(WrappedVkRes *live, const VkInitialConten
     // we should only get here if we have a sparse page table to apply
     RDCASSERT(initial.tag == VkInitialContents::SparseTableOnly, (uint32_t)initial.tag);
 
-    if(initial.sparseBind)
+    // only apply sparse bindings the first time we apply initial contents, OR if there are sparse
+    // bindings of this resource in the capture. This is a simple optimisation to avoid needing to
+    // re-bind the sparse pages every time if they don't change.
+    if(initial.sparseBind &&
+       (IsLoading(m_State) || m_SparseBindResources.find(id) != m_SparseBindResources.end()))
       ObjDisp(m_Queue)->QueueBindSparse(Unwrap(m_Queue), 1, initial.sparseBind, VK_NULL_HANDLE);
   }
   else if(type == eResImage)
@@ -1869,7 +1873,13 @@ void WrappedVulkan::Apply_InitialState(WrappedVkRes *live, const VkInitialConten
     // apply sparse page table mappings and skip memory-bound optimisations
     if(initial.sparseBind)
     {
-      ObjDisp(m_Queue)->QueueBindSparse(Unwrap(m_Queue), 1, initial.sparseBind, VK_NULL_HANDLE);
+      // only apply sparse bindings the first time we apply initial contents, OR if there are sparse
+      // bindings of this resource in the capture. This is a simple optimisation to avoid needing to
+      // re-bind the sparse pages every time if they don't change.
+      if(IsLoading(m_State) || m_SparseBindResources.find(id) != m_SparseBindResources.end())
+        ObjDisp(m_Queue)->QueueBindSparse(Unwrap(m_Queue), 1, initial.sparseBind, VK_NULL_HANDLE);
+
+      // however we don't track the memory bound to it, so always consider it uninitialised.
       initialized = false;
     }
     else if(initialized && boundMemory != ResourceId())
diff --git a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/wrappers/vk_queue_funcs.cpp b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/wrappers/vk_queue_funcs.cpp
index c3521bc30..dd83a9f28 100644
--- a/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/wrappers/vk_queue_funcs.cpp
+++ b/renderdoc/driver/vulkan/wrappers/vk_queue_funcs.cpp
@@ -1571,6 +1571,9 @@ bool WrappedVulkan::Serialise_vkQueueBindSparse(SerialiserType &ser, VkQueue que
         }
         else
         {
+          if(IsLoading(m_State))
+            m_SparseBindResources.insert(GetResID(buf[i].buffer));
+
           buf[i].buffer = Unwrap(buf[i].buffer);
 
           VkSparseMemoryBind *binds = (VkSparseMemoryBind *)buf[i].pBinds;
@@ -1590,6 +1593,9 @@ bool WrappedVulkan::Serialise_vkQueueBindSparse(SerialiserType &ser, VkQueue que
         }
         else
         {
+          if(IsLoading(m_State))
+            m_SparseBindResources.insert(GetResID(imopaque[i].image));
+
           imopaque[i].image = Unwrap(imopaque[i].image);
 
           VkSparseMemoryBind *binds = (VkSparseMemoryBind *)imopaque[i].pBinds;
@@ -1608,6 +1614,9 @@ bool WrappedVulkan::Serialise_vkQueueBindSparse(SerialiserType &ser, VkQueue que
         }
         else
         {
+          if(IsLoading(m_State))
+            m_SparseBindResources.insert(GetResID(im[i].image));
+
           im[i].image = Unwrap(im[i].image);
 
           VkSparseImageMemoryBind *binds = (VkSparseImageMemoryBind *)im[i].pBinds;