diff --git a/fs/ext4/ext4.h b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
index 16e2b719d47c..6efc710b07bf 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/ext4.h
+++ b/fs/ext4/ext4.h
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #ifndef _EXT4_H
 #define _EXT4_H

+#include <linux/refcount.h>
 #include <linux/types.h>
 #include <linux/blkdev.h>
 #include <linux/magic.h>
@@ -231,7 +232,7 @@ typedef struct ext4_io_end {
        struct bio              *bio;           /* Linked list of completed
                                                 * bios covering the extent */
        unsigned int            flag;           /* unwritten or not */
-       atomic_t                count;          /* reference counter */
+       refcount_t              count;          /* reference counter */
        loff_t                  offset;         /* offset in the file */
        ssize_t                 size;           /* size of the extent */
 } ext4_io_end_t;
diff --git a/fs/ext4/page-io.c b/fs/ext4/page-io.c
index 3de933354a08..98f548da9e01 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/page-io.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/page-io.c
@@ -256,14 +256,14 @@ ext4_io_end_t *ext4_init_io_end(struct inode *inode, gfp_t flags)
        if (io) {
                io->inode = inode;
                INIT_LIST_HEAD(&io->list);
-               atomic_set(&io->count, 1);
+               refcount_set(&io_end->count, 1);
        }
        return io;
 }

 void ext4_put_io_end_defer(ext4_io_end_t *io_end)
 {
-       if (atomic_dec_and_test(&io_end->count)) {
+       if (refcount_dec_and_test(&io_end->count)) {
                if (!(io_end->flag & EXT4_IO_END_UNWRITTEN) || !io_end->size) {
                        ext4_release_io_end(io_end);
                        return;
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ int ext4_put_io_end(ext4_io_end_t *io_end)
 {
        int err = 0;

-       if (atomic_dec_and_test(&io_end->count)) {
+       if (refcount_dec_and_test(&io_end->count)) {
                if (io_end->flag & EXT4_IO_END_UNWRITTEN) {
                        err = ext4_convert_unwritten_extents(io_end->handle,
                                                io_end->inode, io_end->offset,
@@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ int ext4_put_io_end(ext4_io_end_t *io_end)

 ext4_io_end_t *ext4_get_io_end(ext4_io_end_t *io_end)
 {
-       atomic_inc(&io_end->count);
+       refcount_inc(&io_end->count);
        return io_end;
 }