diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/rules/java/BazelJavaSemantics.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/rules/java/BazelJavaSemantics.java
index 4136510303ad4a..399f7afb5c2a3e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/rules/java/BazelJavaSemantics.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/rules/java/BazelJavaSemantics.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.actions.CustomCommandLine;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.actions.LauncherFileWriteAction;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.actions.LauncherFileWriteAction.LaunchInfo;
+import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.actions.LazyWritePathsFileAction;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.actions.Substitution;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.actions.Substitution.ComputedSubstitution;
 import com.google.devtools.build.lib.analysis.actions.Template;
@@ -273,7 +274,8 @@ public Artifact createStubAction(
         javaStartClass,
         "",
         NestedSetBuilder.<Artifact>stableOrder(),
-        javaExecutable);
+        javaExecutable,
+        /* createCoverageMetadataJar= */ true);
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -285,7 +287,8 @@ public Artifact createStubAction(
       String javaStartClass,
       String coverageStartClass,
       NestedSetBuilder<Artifact> filesBuilder,
-      String javaExecutable) {
+      String javaExecutable,
+      boolean createCoverageMetadataJar) {
     Preconditions.checkState(ruleContext.getConfiguration().hasFragment(JavaConfiguration.class));
 
     Preconditions.checkNotNull(jvmFlags);
@@ -348,8 +351,30 @@ public Artifact createStubAction(
 
     if (ruleContext.getConfiguration().isCodeCoverageEnabled()
         && ruleContext.getConfiguration().isExperimentalJavaCoverage()) {
-      // Remove the placeholder in the stub otherwise bazel coverage fails.
-      arguments.add(Substitution.of(JavaSemantics.JACOCO_METADATA_PLACEHOLDER, ""));
+      if (createCoverageMetadataJar) {
+        Artifact runtimeClassPathArtifact =
+            ruleContext.getUniqueDirectoryArtifact(
+                "coverage_runtime_classpath",
+                "runtime-classpath.txt",
+                ruleContext.getBinOrGenfilesDirectory());
+        ruleContext.registerAction(
+            new LazyWritePathsFileAction(
+                ruleContext.getActionOwner(),
+                runtimeClassPathArtifact,
+                javaCommon.getRuntimeClasspath(),
+                true));
+        filesBuilder.add(runtimeClassPathArtifact);
+        arguments.add(
+            Substitution.of(
+                JavaSemantics.JACOCO_METADATA_PLACEHOLDER,
+                "export JACOCO_METADATA_JAR=${JAVA_RUNFILES}/"
+                    + workspacePrefix
+                    + "/"
+                    + runtimeClassPathArtifact.getRootRelativePathString()));
+      } else {
+        // Remove the placeholder in the stub otherwise bazel coverage fails.
+        arguments.add(Substitution.of(JavaSemantics.JACOCO_METADATA_PLACEHOLDER, ""));
+      }
       arguments.add(Substitution.of(
           JavaSemantics.JACOCO_MAIN_CLASS_PLACEHOLDER,
           "export JACOCO_MAIN_CLASS=" + coverageStartClass));
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/android/AndroidLocalTestBase.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/android/AndroidLocalTestBase.java
index 9b74e523e9f117..606f26d487cf93 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/android/AndroidLocalTestBase.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/android/AndroidLocalTestBase.java
@@ -270,7 +270,8 @@ public ConfiguredTarget create(RuleContext ruleContext)
         mainClass,
         originalMainClass,
         filesToBuildBuilder,
-        javaExecutable);
+        javaExecutable,
+        /* createCoverageMetadataJar= */ true);
 
     Artifact oneVersionOutputArtifact = null;
     JavaConfiguration javaConfig = ruleContext.getFragment(JavaConfiguration.class);
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java
index 250656e4a2dafb..98a6967d9ae4c0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaBinary.java
@@ -292,7 +292,8 @@ public ConfiguredTarget create(RuleContext ruleContext)
               mainClass,
               originalMainClass,
               filesBuilder,
-              javaExecutable);
+              javaExecutable,
+              /* createCoverageMetadataJar= */ false);
       if (!executableToRun.equals(executableForRunfiles)) {
         filesBuilder.add(executableToRun);
         runfilesBuilder.addArtifact(executableToRun);
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSemantics.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSemantics.java
index c407385fc4930a..674d6585f6ddea 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSemantics.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/rules/java/JavaSemantics.java
@@ -310,7 +310,8 @@ public Artifact createStubAction(
       String javaStartClass,
       String coverageStartClass,
       NestedSetBuilder<Artifact> filesBuilder,
-      String javaExecutable)
+      String javaExecutable,
+      boolean createCoverageMetadataJar)
       throws InterruptedException;
 
   /**