diff --git a/public/client/TracyProfiler.cpp b/public/client/TracyProfiler.cpp
index a13e575a..37d0d500 100644
--- a/public/client/TracyProfiler.cpp
+++ b/public/client/TracyProfiler.cpp
@@ -1439,7 +1439,16 @@ Profiler::Profiler()
 void Profiler::SpawnWorkerThreads()
 {
 #ifdef TRACY_HAS_SYSTEM_TRACING
-    if( SysTraceStart( m_samplingPeriod ) )
+    // use TRACY_NO_SYS_TRACE=1 to force disabling sys tracing 
+    // (even if available in the underlying system)
+    // as it can have significant impact on the size of the traces
+    const char* noSysTrace = GetEnvVar( "TRACY_NO_SYS_TRACE" );
+    const bool disableSystrace = (noSysTrace && noSysTrace[0] == '1');
+    if(disableSystrace)
+    {
+        printf("TRACY: systrace was disabled by 'TRACY_NO_SYS_TRACE=1'\n");
+    }
+    else if( SysTraceStart( m_samplingPeriod ) )
     {
         s_sysTraceThread = (Thread*)tracy_malloc( sizeof( Thread ) );
         new(s_sysTraceThread) Thread( SysTraceWorker, nullptr );