diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java
index d603a40b5d3..6a61843c263 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicy.java
@@ -19,14 +19,17 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.index.engine;
 
+import com.carrotsearch.hppc.ObjectIntHashMap;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexCommit;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexDeletionPolicy;
+import org.apache.lucene.store.Directory;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.Translog;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.TranslogDeletionPolicy;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.function.LongSupplier;
@@ -42,12 +45,16 @@ public final class CombinedDeletionPolicy extends IndexDeletionPolicy {
     private final TranslogDeletionPolicy translogDeletionPolicy;
     private final EngineConfig.OpenMode openMode;
     private final LongSupplier globalCheckpointSupplier;
+    private final ObjectIntHashMap<IndexCommit> snapshottedCommits; // Number of snapshots held against each commit point.
+    private IndexCommit safeCommit; // the most recent safe commit point - its max_seqno at most the persisted global checkpoint.
+    private IndexCommit lastCommit; // the most recent commit point
 
     CombinedDeletionPolicy(EngineConfig.OpenMode openMode, TranslogDeletionPolicy translogDeletionPolicy,
                            LongSupplier globalCheckpointSupplier) {
         this.openMode = openMode;
         this.translogDeletionPolicy = translogDeletionPolicy;
         this.globalCheckpointSupplier = globalCheckpointSupplier;
+        this.snapshottedCommits = new ObjectIntHashMap<>();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -70,18 +77,22 @@ public final class CombinedDeletionPolicy extends IndexDeletionPolicy {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public void onCommit(List<? extends IndexCommit> commits) throws IOException {
+    public synchronized void onCommit(List<? extends IndexCommit> commits) throws IOException {
         final int keptPosition = indexOfKeptCommits(commits, globalCheckpointSupplier.getAsLong());
+        lastCommit = commits.get(commits.size() - 1);
+        safeCommit = commits.get(keptPosition);
         for (int i = 0; i < keptPosition; i++) {
-            commits.get(i).delete();
+            if (snapshottedCommits.containsKey(commits.get(i)) == false) {
+                commits.get(i).delete();
+            }
         }
-        updateTranslogDeletionPolicy(commits.get(keptPosition), commits.get(commits.size() - 1));
+        updateTranslogDeletionPolicy();
     }
 
-    private void updateTranslogDeletionPolicy(final IndexCommit minRequiredCommit, final IndexCommit lastCommit) throws IOException {
-        assert minRequiredCommit.isDeleted() == false : "The minimum required commit must not be deleted";
-        final long minRequiredGen = Long.parseLong(minRequiredCommit.getUserData().get(Translog.TRANSLOG_GENERATION_KEY));
-
+    private void updateTranslogDeletionPolicy() throws IOException {
+        assert Thread.holdsLock(this);
+        assert safeCommit.isDeleted() == false : "The safe commit must not be deleted";
+        final long minRequiredGen = Long.parseLong(safeCommit.getUserData().get(Translog.TRANSLOG_GENERATION_KEY));
         assert lastCommit.isDeleted() == false : "The last commit must not be deleted";
         final long lastGen = Long.parseLong(lastCommit.getUserData().get(Translog.TRANSLOG_GENERATION_KEY));
 
@@ -90,6 +101,34 @@ public final class CombinedDeletionPolicy extends IndexDeletionPolicy {
         translogDeletionPolicy.setMinTranslogGenerationForRecovery(minRequiredGen);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Captures the most recent commit point {@link #lastCommit} or the most recent safe commit point {@link #safeCommit}.
+     * Index files of the capturing commit point won't be released until the commit reference is closed.
+     *
+     * @param acquiringSafeCommit captures the most recent safe commit point if true; otherwise captures the most recent commit point.
+     */
+    synchronized IndexCommit acquireIndexCommit(boolean acquiringSafeCommit) {
+        assert safeCommit != null : "Safe commit is not initialized yet";
+        assert lastCommit != null : "Last commit is not initialized yet";
+        final IndexCommit snapshotting = acquiringSafeCommit ? safeCommit : lastCommit;
+        snapshottedCommits.addTo(snapshotting, 1); // increase refCount
+        return new SnapshotIndexCommit(snapshotting);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Releases an index commit that acquired by {@link #acquireIndexCommit(boolean)}.
+     */
+    synchronized void releaseCommit(final IndexCommit snapshotCommit) {
+        final IndexCommit releasingCommit = ((SnapshotIndexCommit) snapshotCommit).delegate;
+        assert snapshottedCommits.containsKey(releasingCommit) : "Release non-snapshotted commit;" +
+            "snapshotted commits [" + snapshottedCommits + "], releasing commit [" + releasingCommit + "]";
+        final int refCount = snapshottedCommits.addTo(releasingCommit, -1); // release refCount
+        assert refCount >= 0 : "Number of snapshots can not be negative [" + refCount + "]";
+        if (refCount == 0) {
+            snapshottedCommits.remove(releasingCommit);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Find a safe commit point from a list of existing commits based on the supplied global checkpoint.
      * The max sequence number of a safe commit point should be at most the global checkpoint.
@@ -139,4 +178,60 @@ public final class CombinedDeletionPolicy extends IndexDeletionPolicy {
          */
         return 0;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * A wrapper of an index commit that prevents it from being deleted.
+     */
+    private static class SnapshotIndexCommit extends IndexCommit {
+        private final IndexCommit delegate;
+
+        SnapshotIndexCommit(IndexCommit delegate) {
+            this.delegate = delegate;
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public String getSegmentsFileName() {
+            return delegate.getSegmentsFileName();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Collection<String> getFileNames() throws IOException {
+            return delegate.getFileNames();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Directory getDirectory() {
+            return delegate.getDirectory();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public void delete() {
+            throw new UnsupportedOperationException("A snapshot commit does not support deletion");
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public boolean isDeleted() {
+            return delegate.isDeleted();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public int getSegmentCount() {
+            return delegate.getSegmentCount();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public long getGeneration() {
+            return delegate.getGeneration();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public Map<String, String> getUserData() throws IOException {
+            return delegate.getUserData();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public String toString() {
+            return "SnapshotIndexCommit{" + delegate + "}";
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java
index 6d37502bd60..5de7062ab18 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/Engine.java
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ import org.apache.lucene.index.LeafReaderContext;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.SegmentCommitInfo;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.SegmentInfos;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.SegmentReader;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.SnapshotDeletionPolicy;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.IndexSearcher;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.ReferenceManager;
@@ -92,7 +91,6 @@ import java.util.concurrent.locks.Lock;
 import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantLock;
 import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantReadWriteLock;
 import java.util.function.BiFunction;
-import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 public abstract class Engine implements Closeable {
 
@@ -568,7 +566,7 @@ public abstract class Engine implements Closeable {
      * @return the sequence number service
      */
     public abstract LocalCheckpointTracker getLocalCheckpointTracker();
-    
+
     /**
      * Global stats on segments.
      */
@@ -859,9 +857,10 @@ public abstract class Engine implements Closeable {
      * Snapshots the index and returns a handle to it. If needed will try and "commit" the
      * lucene index to make sure we have a "fresh" copy of the files to snapshot.
      *
+     * @param safeCommit indicates whether the engine should acquire the most recent safe commit, or the most recent commit.
      * @param flushFirst indicates whether the engine should flush before returning the snapshot
      */
-    public abstract IndexCommitRef acquireIndexCommit(boolean flushFirst) throws EngineException;
+    public abstract IndexCommitRef acquireIndexCommit(boolean safeCommit, boolean flushFirst) throws EngineException;
 
     /**
      * fail engine due to some error. the engine will also be closed.
@@ -1437,9 +1436,9 @@ public abstract class Engine implements Closeable {
         private final CheckedRunnable<IOException> onClose;
         private final IndexCommit indexCommit;
 
-        IndexCommitRef(SnapshotDeletionPolicy deletionPolicy) throws IOException {
-            indexCommit = deletionPolicy.snapshot();
-            onClose = () -> deletionPolicy.release(indexCommit);
+        IndexCommitRef(IndexCommit indexCommit, CheckedRunnable<IOException> onClose) {
+            this.indexCommit = indexCommit;
+            this.onClose = onClose;
         }
 
         @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
index a0d1fa92a2e..77b82752770 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngine.java
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
 
     private final String uidField;
 
-    private final SnapshotDeletionPolicy snapshotDeletionPolicy;
+    private final CombinedDeletionPolicy combinedDeletionPolicy;
 
     // How many callers are currently requesting index throttling.  Currently there are only two situations where we do this: when merges
     // are falling behind and when writing indexing buffer to disk is too slow.  When this is 0, there is no throttling, else we throttling
@@ -184,9 +184,8 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
                 assert openMode != EngineConfig.OpenMode.OPEN_INDEX_AND_TRANSLOG || startingCommit != null :
                     "Starting commit should be non-null; mode [" + openMode + "]; startingCommit [" + startingCommit + "]";
                 this.localCheckpointTracker = createLocalCheckpointTracker(localCheckpointTrackerSupplier, startingCommit);
-                this.snapshotDeletionPolicy = new SnapshotDeletionPolicy(
-                    new CombinedDeletionPolicy(openMode, translogDeletionPolicy, translog::getLastSyncedGlobalCheckpoint)
-                );
+                this.combinedDeletionPolicy = new CombinedDeletionPolicy(openMode, translogDeletionPolicy,
+                    translog::getLastSyncedGlobalCheckpoint);
                 writer = createWriter(openMode == EngineConfig.OpenMode.CREATE_INDEX_AND_TRANSLOG, startingCommit);
                 updateMaxUnsafeAutoIdTimestampFromWriter(writer);
                 assert engineConfig.getForceNewHistoryUUID() == false
@@ -1644,7 +1643,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public IndexCommitRef acquireIndexCommit(final boolean flushFirst) throws EngineException {
+    public IndexCommitRef acquireIndexCommit(final boolean safeCommit, final boolean flushFirst) throws EngineException {
         // we have to flush outside of the readlock otherwise we might have a problem upgrading
         // the to a write lock when we fail the engine in this operation
         if (flushFirst) {
@@ -1652,12 +1651,8 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
             flush(false, true);
             logger.trace("finish flush for snapshot");
         }
-        try (ReleasableLock lock = readLock.acquire()) {
-            logger.trace("pulling snapshot");
-            return new IndexCommitRef(snapshotDeletionPolicy);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            throw new SnapshotFailedEngineException(shardId, e);
-        }
+        final IndexCommit snapshotCommit = combinedDeletionPolicy.acquireIndexCommit(safeCommit);
+        return new Engine.IndexCommitRef(snapshotCommit, () -> combinedDeletionPolicy.releaseCommit(snapshotCommit));
     }
 
     private boolean failOnTragicEvent(AlreadyClosedException ex) {
@@ -1828,7 +1823,7 @@ public class InternalEngine extends Engine {
         iwc.setCommitOnClose(false); // we by default don't commit on close
         iwc.setOpenMode(create ? IndexWriterConfig.OpenMode.CREATE : IndexWriterConfig.OpenMode.APPEND);
         iwc.setIndexCommit(startingCommit);
-        iwc.setIndexDeletionPolicy(snapshotDeletionPolicy);
+        iwc.setIndexDeletionPolicy(combinedDeletionPolicy);
         // with tests.verbose, lucene sets this up: plumb to align with filesystem stream
         boolean verbose = false;
         try {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
index f5eba1b4f62..4c6c6a17c23 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShard.java
@@ -1085,13 +1085,14 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndicesCl
      * Creates a new {@link IndexCommit} snapshot form the currently running engine. All resources referenced by this
      * commit won't be freed until the commit / snapshot is closed.
      *
+     * @param safeCommit <code>true</code> capture the most recent safe commit point; otherwise the most recent commit point.
      * @param flushFirst <code>true</code> if the index should first be flushed to disk / a low level lucene commit should be executed
      */
-    public Engine.IndexCommitRef acquireIndexCommit(boolean flushFirst) throws EngineException {
+    public Engine.IndexCommitRef acquireIndexCommit(boolean safeCommit, boolean flushFirst) throws EngineException {
         IndexShardState state = this.state; // one time volatile read
         // we allow snapshot on closed index shard, since we want to do one after we close the shard and before we close the engine
         if (state == IndexShardState.STARTED || state == IndexShardState.RELOCATED || state == IndexShardState.CLOSED) {
-            return getEngine().acquireIndexCommit(flushFirst);
+            return getEngine().acquireIndexCommit(safeCommit, flushFirst);
         } else {
             throw new IllegalIndexShardStateException(shardId, state, "snapshot is not allowed");
         }
@@ -1125,7 +1126,7 @@ public class IndexShard extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements IndicesCl
                     return store.getMetadata(null, true);
                 }
             }
-            indexCommit = engine.acquireIndexCommit(false);
+            indexCommit = engine.acquireIndexCommit(false, false);
             return store.getMetadata(indexCommit.getIndexCommit());
         } finally {
             store.decRef();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/LocalShardSnapshot.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/LocalShardSnapshot.java
index e156e988c87..f8f92fbb5fa 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/LocalShardSnapshot.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/LocalShardSnapshot.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ final class LocalShardSnapshot implements Closeable {
         store.incRef();
         boolean success = false;
         try {
-            indexCommit = shard.acquireIndexCommit(true);
+            indexCommit = shard.acquireIndexCommit(false, true);
             success = true;
         } finally {
             if (success == false) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
index 41878c46011..dab39c26a3c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/Store.java
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ public class Store extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Closeable, Ref
      *
      * {@link #readMetadataSnapshot(Path, ShardId, NodeEnvironment.ShardLocker, Logger)} to read a meta data while locking
      * {@link IndexShard#snapshotStoreMetadata()} to safely read from an existing shard
-     * {@link IndexShard#acquireIndexCommit(boolean)} to get an {@link IndexCommit} which is safe to use but has to be freed
+     * {@link IndexShard#acquireIndexCommit(boolean, boolean)} to get an {@link IndexCommit} which is safe to use but has to be freed
      * @param commit the index commit to read the snapshot from or <code>null</code> if the latest snapshot should be read from the
      *               directory
      * @throws CorruptIndexException      if the lucene index is corrupted. This can be caused by a checksum mismatch or an
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ public class Store extends AbstractIndexShardComponent implements Closeable, Ref
      *
      * {@link #readMetadataSnapshot(Path, ShardId, NodeEnvironment.ShardLocker, Logger)} to read a meta data while locking
      * {@link IndexShard#snapshotStoreMetadata()} to safely read from an existing shard
-     * {@link IndexShard#acquireIndexCommit(boolean)} to get an {@link IndexCommit} which is safe to use but has to be freed
+     * {@link IndexShard#acquireIndexCommit(boolean, boolean)} to get an {@link IndexCommit} which is safe to use but has to be freed
      *
      * @param commit the index commit to read the snapshot from or <code>null</code> if the latest snapshot should be read from the
      *               directory
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java
index 4ebce1c0b4b..7afe6c977da 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandler.java
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ public class RecoverySourceHandler {
             } else {
                 final Engine.IndexCommitRef phase1Snapshot;
                 try {
-                    phase1Snapshot = shard.acquireIndexCommit(false);
+                    phase1Snapshot = shard.acquireIndexCommit(true, false);
                 } catch (final Exception e) {
                     throw new RecoveryEngineException(shard.shardId(), 1, "snapshot failed", e);
                 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotShardsService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotShardsService.java
index 35e0b10fd87..7e2a7aab277 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotShardsService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/snapshots/SnapshotShardsService.java
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ public class SnapshotShardsService extends AbstractLifecycleComponent implements
         final Repository repository = snapshotsService.getRepositoriesService().repository(snapshot.getRepository());
         try {
             // we flush first to make sure we get the latest writes snapshotted
-            try (Engine.IndexCommitRef snapshotRef = indexShard.acquireIndexCommit(true)) {
+            try (Engine.IndexCommitRef snapshotRef = indexShard.acquireIndexCommit(false, true)) {
                 repository.snapshotShard(indexShard, snapshot.getSnapshotId(), indexId, snapshotRef.getIndexCommit(), snapshotStatus);
                 if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
                     final IndexShardSnapshotStatus.Copy lastSnapshotStatus = snapshotStatus.asCopy();
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java
index 0fc6195161a..ca75c70137b 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/CombinedDeletionPolicyTests.java
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ package org.elasticsearch.index.engine;
 
 import com.carrotsearch.hppc.LongArrayList;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexCommit;
-import org.apache.lucene.index.SnapshotDeletionPolicy;
+import org.apache.lucene.store.Directory;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.Translog;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.TranslogDeletionPolicy;
@@ -34,14 +34,15 @@ import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
 
 import static java.util.Collections.singletonList;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.engine.EngineConfig.OpenMode.OPEN_INDEX_AND_TRANSLOG;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.engine.EngineConfig.OpenMode.OPEN_INDEX_CREATE_TRANSLOG;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.translog.TranslogDeletionPolicies.createTranslogDeletionPolicy;
-import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.contains;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.doAnswer;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.times;
@@ -88,29 +89,64 @@ public class CombinedDeletionPolicyTests extends ESTestCase {
         assertThat(translogPolicy.getTranslogGenerationOfLastCommit(), equalTo(lastTranslogGen));
     }
 
-    public void testIgnoreSnapshottingCommits() throws Exception {
+    public void testAcquireIndexCommit() throws Exception {
         final AtomicLong globalCheckpoint = new AtomicLong();
         final UUID translogUUID = UUID.randomUUID();
         TranslogDeletionPolicy translogPolicy = createTranslogDeletionPolicy();
         CombinedDeletionPolicy indexPolicy = new CombinedDeletionPolicy(OPEN_INDEX_AND_TRANSLOG, translogPolicy, globalCheckpoint::get);
-
-        long firstMaxSeqNo = randomLongBetween(0, Long.MAX_VALUE - 1);
-        long secondMaxSeqNo = randomLongBetween(firstMaxSeqNo + 1, Long.MAX_VALUE);
-
-        long lastTranslogGen = randomNonNegativeLong();
-        final IndexCommit firstCommit = mockIndexCommit(firstMaxSeqNo, translogUUID, randomLongBetween(0, lastTranslogGen));
-        final IndexCommit secondCommit = mockIndexCommit(secondMaxSeqNo, translogUUID, lastTranslogGen);
-        SnapshotDeletionPolicy snapshotDeletionPolicy = new SnapshotDeletionPolicy(indexPolicy);
-
-        snapshotDeletionPolicy.onInit(Arrays.asList(firstCommit));
-        snapshotDeletionPolicy.snapshot();
-        assertThat(snapshotDeletionPolicy.getSnapshots(), contains(firstCommit));
-
-        // SnapshotPolicy prevents the first commit from deleting, but CombinedPolicy does not retain its translog.
-        globalCheckpoint.set(randomLongBetween(secondMaxSeqNo, Long.MAX_VALUE));
-        snapshotDeletionPolicy.onCommit(Arrays.asList(firstCommit, secondCommit));
-        verify(firstCommit, never()).delete();
-        verify(secondCommit, never()).delete();
+        long lastMaxSeqNo = between(1, 1000);
+        long lastTranslogGen = between(1, 20);
+        int safeIndex = 0;
+        List<IndexCommit> commitList = new ArrayList<>();
+        List<IndexCommit> snapshottingCommits = new ArrayList<>();
+        final int iters = between(10, 100);
+        for (int i = 0; i < iters; i++) {
+            int newCommits = between(1, 10);
+            for (int n = 0; n < newCommits; n++) {
+                lastMaxSeqNo += between(1, 1000);
+                lastTranslogGen += between(1, 20);
+                commitList.add(mockIndexCommit(lastMaxSeqNo, translogUUID, lastTranslogGen));
+            }
+            // Advance the global checkpoint to between [safeIndex, safeIndex + 1)
+            safeIndex = randomIntBetween(safeIndex, commitList.size() - 1);
+            long lower = Math.max(globalCheckpoint.get(),
+                Long.parseLong(commitList.get(safeIndex).getUserData().get(SequenceNumbers.MAX_SEQ_NO)));
+            long upper = safeIndex == commitList.size() - 1 ? lastMaxSeqNo :
+                Long.parseLong(commitList.get(safeIndex + 1).getUserData().get(SequenceNumbers.MAX_SEQ_NO)) - 1;
+            globalCheckpoint.set(randomLongBetween(lower, upper));
+            indexPolicy.onCommit(commitList);
+            // Captures and releases some commits
+            int captures = between(0, 5);
+            for (int n = 0; n < captures; n++) {
+                boolean safe = randomBoolean();
+                final IndexCommit snapshot = indexPolicy.acquireIndexCommit(safe);
+                expectThrows(UnsupportedOperationException.class, snapshot::delete);
+                snapshottingCommits.add(snapshot);
+                if (safe) {
+                    assertThat(snapshot.getUserData(), equalTo(commitList.get(safeIndex).getUserData()));
+                } else {
+                    assertThat(snapshot.getUserData(), equalTo(commitList.get(commitList.size() - 1).getUserData()));
+                }
+            }
+            randomSubsetOf(snapshottingCommits).forEach(snapshot -> {
+                snapshottingCommits.remove(snapshot);
+                indexPolicy.releaseCommit(snapshot);
+            });
+            // Snapshotting commits must not be deleted.
+            snapshottingCommits.forEach(snapshot -> assertThat(snapshot.isDeleted(), equalTo(false)));
+            // We don't need to retain translog for snapshotting commits.
+            assertThat(translogPolicy.getMinTranslogGenerationForRecovery(),
+                equalTo(Long.parseLong(commitList.get(safeIndex).getUserData().get(Translog.TRANSLOG_GENERATION_KEY))));
+            assertThat(translogPolicy.getTranslogGenerationOfLastCommit(),
+                equalTo(Long.parseLong(commitList.get(commitList.size() - 1).getUserData().get(Translog.TRANSLOG_GENERATION_KEY))));
+        }
+        snapshottingCommits.forEach(indexPolicy::releaseCommit);
+        globalCheckpoint.set(randomLongBetween(lastMaxSeqNo, Long.MAX_VALUE));
+        indexPolicy.onCommit(commitList);
+        for (int i = 0; i < commitList.size() - 1; i++) {
+            assertThat(commitList.get(i).isDeleted(), equalTo(true));
+        }
+        assertThat(commitList.get(commitList.size() - 1).isDeleted(), equalTo(false));
         assertThat(translogPolicy.getMinTranslogGenerationForRecovery(), equalTo(lastTranslogGen));
         assertThat(translogPolicy.getTranslogGenerationOfLastCommit(), equalTo(lastTranslogGen));
     }
@@ -180,8 +216,16 @@ public class CombinedDeletionPolicyTests extends ESTestCase {
         userData.put(SequenceNumbers.MAX_SEQ_NO, Long.toString(maxSeqNo));
         userData.put(Translog.TRANSLOG_UUID_KEY, translogUUID.toString());
         userData.put(Translog.TRANSLOG_GENERATION_KEY, Long.toString(translogGen));
+        final AtomicBoolean deleted = new AtomicBoolean();
         final IndexCommit commit = mock(IndexCommit.class);
+        final Directory directory = mock(Directory.class);
         when(commit.getUserData()).thenReturn(userData);
+        when(commit.getDirectory()).thenReturn(directory);
+        when(commit.isDeleted()).thenAnswer(args -> deleted.get());
+        doAnswer(arg -> {
+            deleted.set(true);
+            return null;
+        }).when(commit).delete();
         return commit;
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
index f20aaedaff7..9755304d2f1 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/engine/InternalEngineTests.java
@@ -167,6 +167,7 @@ import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.everyItem;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThan;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.greaterThanOrEqualTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasKey;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThanOrEqualTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
@@ -2115,7 +2116,7 @@ public class InternalEngineTests extends EngineTestCase {
             boolean doneIndexing;
             do {
                 doneIndexing = doneLatch.await(sleepTime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
-                commits.add(engine.acquireIndexCommit(true));
+                commits.add(engine.acquireIndexCommit(false, true));
                 if (commits.size() > commitLimit) { // don't keep on piling up too many commits
                     IOUtils.close(commits.remove(randomIntBetween(0, commits.size()-1)));
                     // we increase the wait time to make sure we eventually if things are slow wait for threads to finish.
@@ -4319,4 +4320,38 @@ public class InternalEngineTests extends EngineTestCase {
             assertEquals(totalNumDocs, searcher.reader().numDocs());
         }
     }
+
+    public void testAcquireIndexCommit() throws Exception {
+        IOUtils.close(engine, store);
+        store = createStore();
+        final AtomicLong globalCheckpoint = new AtomicLong();
+        try (InternalEngine engine = createEngine(store, createTempDir(), globalCheckpoint::get)) {
+            int numDocs = between(1, 20);
+            for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+                index(engine, i);
+            }
+            final boolean inSync = randomBoolean();
+            if (inSync) {
+                globalCheckpoint.set(numDocs - 1);
+            }
+            final boolean flushFirst = randomBoolean();
+            final boolean safeCommit = randomBoolean();
+            Engine.IndexCommitRef commit = engine.acquireIndexCommit(safeCommit, flushFirst);
+            int moreDocs = between(1, 20);
+            for (int i = 0; i < moreDocs; i++) {
+                index(engine, numDocs + i);
+            }
+            globalCheckpoint.set(numDocs + moreDocs - 1);
+            engine.flush();
+            // check that we can still read the commit that we captured
+            try (IndexReader reader = DirectoryReader.open(commit.getIndexCommit())) {
+                assertThat(reader.numDocs(), equalTo(flushFirst && (safeCommit == false || inSync) ? numDocs : 0));
+            }
+            assertThat(DirectoryReader.listCommits(engine.store.directory()), hasSize(2));
+            commit.close();
+            // check it's clean up
+            engine.flush(true, true);
+            assertThat(DirectoryReader.listCommits(engine.store.directory()), hasSize(1));
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
index 972a278ba5d..48887aa4c11 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTests.java
@@ -1045,41 +1045,6 @@ public class IndexShardTests extends IndexShardTestCase {
         closeShards(indexShard);
     }
 
-    public void testAcquireIndexCommit() throws Exception {
-        boolean isPrimary = randomBoolean();
-        final IndexShard shard = newStartedShard(isPrimary);
-        int numDocs = randomInt(20);
-        for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
-            indexDoc(shard, "type", "id_" + i);
-        }
-        final boolean flushFirst = randomBoolean();
-        Engine.IndexCommitRef commit = shard.acquireIndexCommit(flushFirst);
-        int moreDocs = randomInt(20);
-        for (int i = 0; i < moreDocs; i++) {
-            indexDoc(shard, "type", "id_" + numDocs + i);
-        }
-        flushShard(shard);
-        // check that we can still read the commit that we captured
-        try (IndexReader reader = DirectoryReader.open(commit.getIndexCommit())) {
-            assertThat(reader.numDocs(), equalTo(flushFirst ? numDocs : 0));
-        }
-        commit.close();
-        // Make the global checkpoint in sync with the local checkpoint.
-        if (isPrimary) {
-            final String allocationId = shard.shardRouting.allocationId().getId();
-            shard.updateLocalCheckpointForShard(allocationId, numDocs + moreDocs - 1);
-            shard.updateGlobalCheckpointForShard(allocationId, shard.getLocalCheckpoint());
-        } else {
-            shard.updateGlobalCheckpointOnReplica(numDocs + moreDocs - 1, "test");
-        }
-        flushShard(shard, true);
-
-        // check it's clean up
-        assertThat(DirectoryReader.listCommits(shard.store().directory()), hasSize(1));
-
-        closeShards(shard);
-    }
-
     /***
      * test one can snapshot the store at various lifecycle stages
      */
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandlerTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandlerTests.java
index cf5f24d2a6e..4963c1b74a5 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandlerTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoverySourceHandlerTests.java
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ public class RecoverySourceHandlerTests extends ESTestCase {
         when(shard.seqNoStats()).thenReturn(mock(SeqNoStats.class));
         when(shard.segmentStats(anyBoolean())).thenReturn(mock(SegmentsStats.class));
         when(shard.state()).thenReturn(IndexShardState.RELOCATED);
-        when(shard.acquireIndexCommit(anyBoolean())).thenReturn(mock(Engine.IndexCommitRef.class));
+        when(shard.acquireIndexCommit(anyBoolean(), anyBoolean())).thenReturn(mock(Engine.IndexCommitRef.class));
         doAnswer(invocation -> {
             ((ActionListener<Releasable>)invocation.getArguments()[0]).onResponse(() -> {});
             return null;
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java
index 4a449463b5e..85dc3a5fc39 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/indices/recovery/RecoveryTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.indices.recovery;
 
+import org.apache.lucene.index.DirectoryReader;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexCommit;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexWriter;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexWriterConfig;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.NoMergePolicy;
@@ -27,6 +29,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.index.IndexRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.UUIDs;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesArray;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.uid.Versions;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.BigArrays;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
@@ -36,11 +39,13 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.engine.Engine;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.SourceToParse;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.replication.ESIndexLevelReplicationTestCase;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.replication.RecoveryDuringReplicationTests;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.seqno.SequenceNumbers;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.Translog;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.translog.TranslogConfig;
 
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.Future;
@@ -48,6 +53,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.Future;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.translog.TranslogDeletionPolicies.createTranslogDeletionPolicy;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.empty;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.lessThanOrEqualTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.not;
 
 public class RecoveryTests extends ESIndexLevelReplicationTestCase {
@@ -241,4 +247,28 @@ public class RecoveryTests extends ESIndexLevelReplicationTestCase {
             assertThat(replica.getTranslog().getLastSyncedGlobalCheckpoint(), equalTo(numDocs - 1));
         }
     }
+
+    public void testPeerRecoverySendSafeCommitInFileBased() throws Exception {
+        IndexShard primaryShard = newStartedShard(true);
+        int numDocs = between(1, 100);
+        long globalCheckpoint = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < numDocs; i++) {
+            primaryShard.applyIndexOperationOnPrimary(Versions.MATCH_ANY, VersionType.INTERNAL,
+                SourceToParse.source(primaryShard.shardId().getIndexName(), "test", Integer.toString(i), new BytesArray("{}"),
+                    XContentType.JSON), IndexRequest.UNSET_AUTO_GENERATED_TIMESTAMP, false, getMappingUpdater(primaryShard, "test"));
+            if (randomBoolean()) {
+                globalCheckpoint = randomLongBetween(globalCheckpoint, i);
+                primaryShard.updateLocalCheckpointForShard(primaryShard.routingEntry().allocationId().getId(), globalCheckpoint);
+                primaryShard.updateGlobalCheckpointForShard(primaryShard.routingEntry().allocationId().getId(), globalCheckpoint);
+                primaryShard.flush(new FlushRequest());
+            }
+        }
+        IndexShard replicaShard = newShard(primaryShard.shardId(), false);
+        updateMappings(replicaShard, primaryShard.indexSettings().getIndexMetaData());
+        recoverReplica(replicaShard, primaryShard);
+        List<IndexCommit> commits = DirectoryReader.listCommits(replicaShard.store().directory());
+        long maxSeqNo = Long.parseLong(commits.get(0).getUserData().get(SequenceNumbers.MAX_SEQ_NO));
+        assertThat(maxSeqNo, lessThanOrEqualTo(globalCheckpoint));
+        closeShards(primaryShard, replicaShard);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTestCase.java b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTestCase.java
index 4737befa30e..cd55c1126eb 100644
--- a/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTestCase.java
+++ b/test/framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/shard/IndexShardTestCase.java
@@ -620,7 +620,7 @@ public abstract class IndexShardTestCase extends ESTestCase {
                                  final Snapshot snapshot,
                                  final Repository repository) throws IOException {
         final IndexShardSnapshotStatus snapshotStatus = IndexShardSnapshotStatus.newInitializing();
-        try (Engine.IndexCommitRef indexCommitRef = shard.acquireIndexCommit(true)) {
+        try (Engine.IndexCommitRef indexCommitRef = shard.acquireIndexCommit(false, true)) {
             Index index = shard.shardId().getIndex();
             IndexId indexId = new IndexId(index.getName(), index.getUUID());