diff --git oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/memory/AbstractBlob.java oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/memory/AbstractBlob.java
index 9304d9c..3e3708c 100644
--- oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/memory/AbstractBlob.java
+++ oak-core/src/main/java/org/apache/jackrabbit/oak/plugins/memory/AbstractBlob.java
@@ -50,14 +50,20 @@ public abstract class AbstractBlob implements Blob {
         // shortcut: first compare lengths if known in advance
         long al = a.length();
         long bl = b.length();
         if (al != -1 && bl != -1 && al != bl) {
             return false; // blobs not equal, given known and non-equal lengths
         }
 
+        final String referenceA = a.getReference();
+        final String referenceB = b.getReference();
+        if (referenceA != null && referenceB != null) {
+            return referenceA.equals(referenceB);
+        }
+
         try {
             return ByteStreams.equal(supplier(a), supplier(b));
         } catch (IOException e) {
             throw new IllegalStateException("Blob equality check failed", e);
         }
     }