diff --git a/htslib/sam.h b/htslib/sam.h
index 5f8c0a554..4beaea376 100644
--- a/htslib/sam.h
+++ b/htslib/sam.h
@@ -1438,7 +1438,6 @@ int sam_passes_filter(const sam_hdr_t *h, const bam1_t *b,
 
 /// Converts a BAM aux tag to SAM format
 /*
- * @param b    Pointer to the bam record
  * @param key  Two letter tag key
  * @param type Single letter type code: ACcSsIifHZB.
  * @param tag  Tag data pointer, in BAM format
@@ -1628,6 +1627,29 @@ static inline const uint8_t *sam_format_aux1(const uint8_t *key,
     return NULL;
 }
 
+/// Return a pointer to a BAM record's first aux field
+/** @param b   Pointer to the BAM record
+    @return    Aux field pointer, or NULL if the record has none
+
+When NULL is returned, errno will also be set to ENOENT. ("Aux field pointers"
+point to the TYPE byte within the auxiliary data for that field; but in general
+it is unnecessary for user code to be aware of this.)
+ */
+HTSLIB_EXPORT
+uint8_t *bam_aux_first(const bam1_t *b);
+
+/// Return a pointer to a BAM record's next aux field
+/** @param b   Pointer to the BAM record
+    @param s   Aux field pointer, as returned by bam_aux_first()/_next()/_get()
+    @return    Pointer to the next aux field, or NULL if no next field or error
+
+Whenever NULL is returned, errno will also be set: ENOENT if @p s was the
+record's last aux field; otherwise EINVAL, indicating that the BAM record's
+aux data is corrupt.
+ */
+HTSLIB_EXPORT
+uint8_t *bam_aux_next(const bam1_t *b, const uint8_t *s);
+
 /// Return a pointer to an aux record
 /** @param b   Pointer to the bam record
     @param tag Desired aux tag
@@ -1640,6 +1662,19 @@ static inline const uint8_t *sam_format_aux1(const uint8_t *key,
 HTSLIB_EXPORT
 uint8_t *bam_aux_get(const bam1_t *b, const char tag[2]);
 
+/// Return the aux field's 2-character tag
+/** @param s   Aux field pointer, as returned by bam_aux_first()/_next()/_get()
+    @return    Pointer to the tag characters, NOT NUL-terminated
+ */
+static inline
+const char *bam_aux_tag(const uint8_t *s) { return (const char *) (s-2); }
+
+/// Return the aux field's type character
+/** @param s   Aux field pointer, as returned by bam_aux_first()/_next()/_get()
+    @return    The type character: one of cCsSiI/fd/A/Z/H/B
+ */
+static inline char bam_aux_type(const uint8_t *s) { return *s; }
+
 /// Return a SAM formatting string containing a BAM tag
 /** @param b   Pointer to the bam record
     @param tag Desired aux tag
@@ -1742,15 +1777,33 @@ HTSLIB_EXPORT
 int bam_aux_append(bam1_t *b, const char tag[2], char type, int len, const uint8_t *data);
 
 /// Delete tag data from a bam record
-/* @param b The bam record to update
-   @param s Pointer to the tag to delete, as returned by bam_aux_get().
-   @return 0 on success; -1 on failure
-   If the bam record's aux data is corrupt, errno is set to EINVAL and this
-   function returns -1;
+/** @param b   The BAM record to update
+    @param s   Pointer to the aux field to delete, as returned by bam_aux_get()
+               Must not be NULL
+    @return    0 on success; -1 on failure
+
+If the BAM record's aux data is corrupt, errno is set to EINVAL and this
+function returns -1.
 */
 HTSLIB_EXPORT
 int bam_aux_del(bam1_t *b, uint8_t *s);
 
+/// Delete an aux field from a BAM record
+/** @param b   The BAM record to update
+    @param s   Pointer to the aux field to delete, as returned by
+               bam_aux_first()/_next()/_get(); must not be NULL
+    @return    Pointer to the following aux field, or NULL if none or on error
+
+Identical to @c bam_aux_del() apart from the return value, which is an
+aux iterator suitable for use with @c bam_aux_next()/etc.
+
+Whenever NULL is returned, errno will also be set: ENOENT if the aux field
+deleted was the record's last one; otherwise EINVAL, indicating that the
+BAM record's aux data is corrupt.
+ */
+HTSLIB_EXPORT
+uint8_t *bam_aux_remove(bam1_t *b, uint8_t *s);
+
 /// Update or add a string-type tag
 /* @param b    The bam record to update
    @param tag  Tag identifier
diff --git a/sam.c b/sam.c
index c95d1c693..ee88cc23e 100644
--- a/sam.c
+++ b/sam.c
@@ -4614,31 +4614,42 @@ static inline uint8_t *skip_aux(uint8_t *s, uint8_t *end)
     }
 }
 
+uint8_t *bam_aux_first(const bam1_t *b)
+{
+    uint8_t *s = bam_get_aux(b);
+    uint8_t *end = b->data + b->l_data;
+    if (s >= end) { errno = ENOENT; return NULL; }
+    return s+2;
+}
+
+uint8_t *bam_aux_next(const bam1_t *b, const uint8_t *s)
+{
+    uint8_t *end = b->data + b->l_data;
+    uint8_t *next = s? skip_aux((uint8_t *) s, end) : end;
+    if (next == NULL) goto bad_aux;
+    if (next >= end) { errno = ENOENT; return NULL; }
+    return next+2;
+
+ bad_aux:
+    hts_log_error("Corrupted aux data for read %s", bam_get_qname(b));
+    errno = EINVAL;
+    return NULL;
+}
+
 uint8_t *bam_aux_get(const bam1_t *b, const char tag[2])
 {
-    uint8_t *s, *end, *t = (uint8_t *) tag;
-    uint16_t y = (uint16_t) t[0]<<8 | t[1];
-    s = bam_get_aux(b);
-    end = b->data + b->l_data;
-    while (s != NULL && end - s >= 3) {
-        uint16_t x = (uint16_t) s[0]<<8 | s[1];
-        s += 2;
-        if (x == y) {
+    uint8_t *s;
+    for (s = bam_aux_first(b); s; s = bam_aux_next(b, s))
+        if (s[-2] == tag[0] && s[-1] == tag[1]) {
             // Check the tag value is valid and complete
-            uint8_t *e = skip_aux(s, end);
-            if ((*s == 'Z' || *s == 'H') && *(e - 1) != '\0') {
-                goto bad_aux;  // Unterminated string
-            }
-            if (e != NULL) {
-                return s;
-            } else {
-                goto bad_aux;
-            }
+            uint8_t *e = skip_aux(s, b->data + b->l_data);
+            if (e == NULL) goto bad_aux;
+            if ((*s == 'Z' || *s == 'H') && *(e - 1) != '\0') goto bad_aux;
+
+            return s;
         }
-        s = skip_aux(s, end);
-    }
-    if (s == NULL) goto bad_aux;
-    errno = ENOENT;
+
+    // errno now as set by bam_aux_first()/bam_aux_next()
     return NULL;
 
  bad_aux:
@@ -4647,23 +4658,28 @@ uint8_t *bam_aux_get(const bam1_t *b, const char tag[2])
     return NULL;
 }
 
-// s MUST BE returned by bam_aux_get()
 int bam_aux_del(bam1_t *b, uint8_t *s)
 {
-    uint8_t *p, *aux;
-    int l_aux = bam_get_l_aux(b);
-    aux = bam_get_aux(b);
-    p = s - 2;
-    s = skip_aux(s, aux + l_aux);
-    if (s == NULL) goto bad_aux;
-    memmove(p, s, l_aux - (s - aux));
-    b->l_data -= s - p;
-    return 0;
+    s = bam_aux_remove(b, s);
+    return (s || errno == ENOENT)? 0 : -1;
+}
+
+uint8_t *bam_aux_remove(bam1_t *b, uint8_t *s)
+{
+    uint8_t *end = b->data + b->l_data;
+    uint8_t *next = skip_aux(s, end);
+    if (next == NULL) goto bad_aux;
+
+    b->l_data -= next - (s-2);
+    if (next >= end) { errno = ENOENT; return NULL; }
+
+    memmove(s-2, next, end - next);
+    return s;
 
  bad_aux:
     hts_log_error("Corrupted aux data for read %s", bam_get_qname(b));
     errno = EINVAL;
-    return -1;
+    return NULL;
 }
 
 int bam_aux_update_str(bam1_t *b, const char tag[2], int len, const char *data)
diff --git a/test/sam.c b/test/sam.c
index 036349f2b..c641b88e6 100644
--- a/test/sam.c
+++ b/test/sam.c
@@ -87,6 +87,15 @@ uint8_t *check_bam_aux_get(const bam1_t *aln, const char *tag, char type)
     return NULL;
 }
 
+static void check_aux_count(const bam1_t *aln, int expected, const char *what)
+{
+    const uint8_t *itr;
+    int n = 0;
+    for (itr = bam_aux_first(aln); itr; itr = bam_aux_next(aln, itr)) n++;
+    if (n != expected)
+        fail("%s has %d aux fields, expected %d", what, n, expected);
+}
+
 static void check_int_B_array(bam1_t *aln, char *tag,
                              uint32_t nvals, int64_t *vals) {
     uint8_t *p;
@@ -285,10 +294,30 @@ static int aux_fields1(void)
         if ((p = check_bam_aux_get(aln, "XA", 'A')) && bam_aux2A(p) != 'k')
             fail("XA field is '%c', expected 'k'", bam_aux2A(p));
 
+        check_aux_count(aln, 24, "Original record");
+
         bam_aux_del(aln,p);
         if (bam_aux_get(aln,"XA"))
             fail("XA field was not deleted");
 
+        check_aux_count(aln, 23, "Record post-XA-deletion");
+
+        p = bam_aux_get(aln, "Y2");
+        if (p == NULL || strncmp(bam_aux_tag(p), "Y2", 2) != 0 || bam_aux_type(p) != 'i')
+            fail("bam_aux_get() missed Y2 field");
+
+        p = bam_aux_next(aln, p);
+        if (p == NULL || strncmp(bam_aux_tag(p), "Y3", 2) != 0 || bam_aux_type(p) != 'c')
+            fail("bam_aux_next() missed Y3 field");
+
+        p = bam_aux_get(aln, "Y8");
+        if (p == NULL || strncmp(bam_aux_tag(p), "Y8", 2) != 0 || bam_aux_type(p) != 'I')
+            fail("bam_aux_get() missed Y8 field");
+
+        p = bam_aux_next(aln, p);
+        if (p != NULL || errno != ENOENT)
+            fail("bam_aux_next missed the end of fields");
+
         if ((p = check_bam_aux_get(aln, "Xi", 'C')) && bam_aux2i(p) != 37)
             fail("Xi field is %"PRId64", expected 37", bam_aux2i(p));
 
@@ -492,6 +521,16 @@ static int aux_fields1(void)
 
         if (strcmp(ks.s, r1) != 0)
             fail("record formatted incorrectly: \"%s\"", ks.s);
+
+        // Test field removal APIs -- after the strcmp(..., r1) check so that
+        // can also check the formatting of the to-be-removed fields.
+
+        p = bam_aux_remove(aln, check_bam_aux_get(aln, "XH", 'H'));
+        if (bam_aux_get(aln, "XH"))
+            fail("XH field was not removed");
+        check_aux_count(aln, 31, "Record post-XH-removal");
+        if (strncmp(bam_aux_tag(p), "XB", 2) != 0 || bam_aux_type(p) != 'B')
+            fail("bam_aux_remove() missed XB field");
     }
     else fail("can't read record");