@@ -92,8 +92,8 @@ functions are thread-safe, the :term:`GIL <global interpreter lock>` does not
 need to be held.
 
 The default raw memory block allocator uses the following functions:
-:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call ``malloc(1)`` when
-requesting zero bytes.
+:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`calloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call
+``malloc(1)`` (or ``calloc(1, 1)``) when requesting zero bytes.
 
 .. versionadded:: 3.4
 
@@ -106,6 +106,17 @@ requesting zero bytes.
    been initialized in any way.
 
 
+.. c:function:: void* PyMem_RawCalloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize)
+
+   Allocates *nelem* elements each whose size in bytes is *elsize* and returns
+   a pointer of type :c:type:`void\*` to the allocated memory, or *NULL* if the
+   request fails. The memory is initialized to zeros. Requesting zero elements
+   or elements of size zero bytes returns a distinct non-*NULL* pointer if
+   possible, as if ``PyMem_RawCalloc(1, 1)`` had been called instead.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.5
+
+
 .. c:function:: void* PyMem_RawRealloc(void *p, size_t n)
 
    Resizes the memory block pointed to by *p* to *n* bytes. The contents will
@@ -136,8 +147,8 @@ behavior when requesting zero bytes, are available for allocating and releasing
 memory from the Python heap.
 
 The default memory block allocator uses the following functions:
-:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call ``malloc(1)`` when
-requesting zero bytes.
+:c:func:`malloc`, :c:func:`calloc`, :c:func:`realloc` and :c:func:`free`; call
+``malloc(1)`` (or ``calloc(1, 1)``) when requesting zero bytes.
 
 .. warning::
 
@@ -152,6 +163,17 @@ requesting zero bytes.
    been called instead. The memory will not have been initialized in any way.
 
 
+.. c:function:: void* PyMem_Calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize)
+
+   Allocates *nelem* elements each whose size in bytes is *elsize* and returns
+   a pointer of type :c:type:`void\*` to the allocated memory, or *NULL* if the
+   request fails. The memory is initialized to zeros. Requesting zero elements
+   or elements of size zero bytes returns a distinct non-*NULL* pointer if
+   possible, as if ``PyMem_Calloc(1, 1)`` had been called instead.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.5
+
+
 .. c:function:: void* PyMem_Realloc(void *p, size_t n)
 
    Resizes the memory block pointed to by *p* to *n* bytes. The contents will be
@@ -222,11 +244,17 @@ Customize Memory Allocators
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    | ``void* malloc(void *ctx, size_t size)``                 | allocate a memory block               |
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
+   | ``void* calloc(void *ctx, size_t nelem, size_t elsize)`` | allocate a memory block initialized   |
+   |                                                          | with zeros                            |
+   +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    | ``void* realloc(void *ctx, void *ptr, size_t new_size)`` | allocate or resize a memory block     |
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
    | ``void free(void *ctx, void *ptr)``                      | free a memory block                   |
    +----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------+
 
+   .. versionchanged:: 3.5
+      Add a new field ``calloc``.
+
 .. c:type:: PyMemAllocatorDomain
 
    Enum used to identify an allocator domain. Domains:
 
@@ -164,15 +164,23 @@ Optimizations
 
 Major performance enhancements have been added:
 
-* None yet.
+* Construction of ``bytes(int)`` and ``bytearray(int)`` (filled by zero bytes)
+  is faster and use less memory (until the bytearray buffer is filled with
+  data) for large objects. ``calloc()`` is used instead of ``malloc()`` to
+  allocate memory for these objects.
 
 
 Build and C API Changes
 =======================
 
 Changes to Python's build process and to the C API include:
 
-* None yet.
+* New ``calloc`` functions:
+
+  * :c:func:`PyMem_RawCalloc`
+  * :c:func:`PyMem_Calloc`
+  * :c:func:`PyObject_Calloc`
+  * :c:func:`_PyObject_GC_Calloc`
 
 
 Deprecated
@@ -209,6 +217,9 @@ Porting to Python 3.5
 This section lists previously described changes and other bugfixes
 that may require changes to your code.
 
+Changes in the Python API
+-------------------------
+
 * Before Python 3.5, a :class:`datetime.time` object was considered to be false
   if it represented midnight in UTC.  This behavior was considered obscure and
   error-prone and has been removed in Python 3.5.  See :issue:`13936` for full
@@ -217,3 +228,8 @@ that may require changes to your code.
 * :meth:`ssl.SSLSocket.send()` now raises either :exc:`ssl.SSLWantReadError`
   or :exc:`ssl.SSLWantWriteError` on a non-blocking socket if the operation
   would block. Previously, it would return 0.  See :issue:`20951`.
+
+Changes in the C API
+--------------------
+
+* The :c:type:`PyMemAllocator` structure has a new ``calloc`` field.
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ PyObject_{New, NewVar, Del}.
    the raw memory.
 */
 PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyObject_Malloc(size_t size);
+PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyObject_Calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyObject_Realloc(void *ptr, size_t new_size);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyObject_Free(void *ptr);
 
@@ -321,7 +322,8 @@ extern PyGC_Head *_PyGC_generation0;
         (!PyTuple_CheckExact(obj) || _PyObject_GC_IS_TRACKED(obj)))
 #endif /* Py_LIMITED_API */
 
-PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyObject_GC_Malloc(size_t);
+PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyObject_GC_Malloc(size_t size);
+PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyObject_GC_Calloc(size_t size);
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) _PyObject_GC_New(PyTypeObject *);
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyVarObject *) _PyObject_GC_NewVar(PyTypeObject *, Py_ssize_t);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyObject_GC_Track(void *);
 
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ extern "C" {
 
 #ifndef Py_LIMITED_API
 PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyMem_RawMalloc(size_t size);
+PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyMem_RawCalloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyMem_RawRealloc(void *ptr, size_t new_size);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyMem_RawFree(void *ptr);
 #endif
@@ -57,6 +58,7 @@ PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyMem_RawFree(void *ptr);
 */
 
 PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyMem_Malloc(size_t size);
+PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyMem_Calloc(size_t nelem, size_t elsize);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void *) PyMem_Realloc(void *ptr, size_t new_size);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) PyMem_Free(void *ptr);
 
@@ -132,6 +134,9 @@ typedef struct {
     /* allocate a memory block */
     void* (*malloc) (void *ctx, size_t size);
 
+    /* allocate a memory block initialized by zeros */
+    void* (*calloc) (void *ctx, size_t nelem, size_t elsize);
+
     /* allocate or resize a memory block */
     void* (*realloc) (void *ctx, void *ptr, size_t new_size);
 
 
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ Release date: TBA
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- Issue #21233: Add new C functions: PyMem_RawCalloc(), PyMem_Calloc(),
+  PyObject_Calloc(), _PyObject_GC_Calloc(). bytes(int) and bytearray(int)
+  are now using ``calloc()`` instead of ``malloc()`` for large objects which
+  is faster and use less memory (until the bytearray buffer is filled with
+  data).
+
 - Issue #21377: PyBytes_Concat() now tries to concatenate in-place when the
   first argument has a reference count of 1.  Patch by Nikolaus Rath.
 
 
@@ -2710,27 +2710,57 @@ test_pymem_alloc0(PyObject *self)
 {
     void *ptr;
 
+    ptr = PyMem_RawMalloc(0);
+    if (ptr == NULL) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "PyMem_RawMalloc(0) returns NULL");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    PyMem_RawFree(ptr);
+
+    ptr = PyMem_RawCalloc(0, 0);
+    if (ptr == NULL) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "PyMem_RawCalloc(0, 0) returns NULL");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    PyMem_RawFree(ptr);
+
     ptr = PyMem_Malloc(0);
     if (ptr == NULL) {
         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "PyMem_Malloc(0) returns NULL");
         return NULL;
     }
     PyMem_Free(ptr);
 
+    ptr = PyMem_Calloc(0, 0);
+    if (ptr == NULL) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "PyMem_Calloc(0, 0) returns NULL");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    PyMem_Free(ptr);
+
     ptr = PyObject_Malloc(0);
     if (ptr == NULL) {
         PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "PyObject_Malloc(0) returns NULL");
         return NULL;
     }
     PyObject_Free(ptr);
 
+    ptr = PyObject_Calloc(0, 0);
+    if (ptr == NULL) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_RuntimeError, "PyObject_Calloc(0, 0) returns NULL");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    PyObject_Free(ptr);
+
     Py_RETURN_NONE;
 }
 
 typedef struct {
     PyMemAllocator alloc;
 
     size_t malloc_size;
+    size_t calloc_nelem;
+    size_t calloc_elsize;
     void *realloc_ptr;
     size_t realloc_new_size;
     void *free_ptr;
@@ -2743,6 +2773,14 @@ static void* hook_malloc (void* ctx, size_t size)
     return hook->alloc.malloc(hook->alloc.ctx, size);
 }
 
+static void* hook_calloc (void* ctx, size_t nelem, size_t elsize)
+{
+    alloc_hook_t *hook = (alloc_hook_t *)ctx;
+    hook->calloc_nelem = nelem;
+    hook->calloc_elsize = elsize;
+    return hook->alloc.calloc(hook->alloc.ctx, nelem, elsize);
+}
+
 static void* hook_realloc (void* ctx, void* ptr, size_t new_size)
 {
     alloc_hook_t *hook = (alloc_hook_t *)ctx;
@@ -2765,16 +2803,14 @@ test_setallocators(PyMemAllocatorDomain domain)
     const char *error_msg;
     alloc_hook_t hook;
     PyMemAllocator alloc;
-    size_t size, size2;
+    size_t size, size2, nelem, elsize;
     void *ptr, *ptr2;
 
-    hook.malloc_size = 0;
-    hook.realloc_ptr = NULL;
-    hook.realloc_new_size = 0;
-    hook.free_ptr = NULL;
+    memset(&hook, 0, sizeof(hook));
 
     alloc.ctx = &hook;
     alloc.malloc = &hook_malloc;
+    alloc.calloc = &hook_calloc;
     alloc.realloc = &hook_realloc;
     alloc.free = &hook_free;
     PyMem_GetAllocator(domain, &hook.alloc);
@@ -2831,6 +2867,33 @@ test_setallocators(PyMemAllocatorDomain domain)
         goto fail;
     }
 
+    nelem = 2;
+    elsize = 5;
+    switch(domain)
+    {
+    case PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW: ptr = PyMem_RawCalloc(nelem, elsize); break;
+    case PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM: ptr = PyMem_Calloc(nelem, elsize); break;
+    case PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ: ptr = PyObject_Calloc(nelem, elsize); break;
+    default: ptr = NULL; break;
+    }
+
+    if (ptr == NULL) {
+        error_msg = "calloc failed";
+        goto fail;
+    }
+
+    if (hook.calloc_nelem != nelem || hook.calloc_elsize != elsize) {
+        error_msg = "calloc invalid nelem or elsize";
+        goto fail;
+    }
+
+    switch(domain)
+    {
+    case PYMEM_DOMAIN_RAW: PyMem_RawFree(ptr); break;
+    case PYMEM_DOMAIN_MEM: PyMem_Free(ptr); break;
+    case PYMEM_DOMAIN_OBJ: PyObject_Free(ptr); break;
+    }
+
     Py_INCREF(Py_None);
     res = Py_None;
     goto finally;