diff --git a/dvc/fs/utils.py b/dvc/fs/utils.py
index c585e6fa4c..6ef75a31cb 100644
--- a/dvc/fs/utils.py
+++ b/dvc/fs/utils.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import logging
 import os
-from typing import TYPE_CHECKING
+from io import BytesIO
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, BinaryIO, Union
 
 from .local import LocalFileSystem
 
@@ -18,9 +19,25 @@ def transfer(
     to_fs: "BaseFileSystem",
     to_info: "DvcPath",
     move: bool = False,
+    content: Union[bytes, BinaryIO] = None,
 ) -> None:
     use_move = isinstance(from_fs, type(to_fs)) and move
     try:
+        if content:
+            if isinstance(content, bytes):
+                fobj: BinaryIO = BytesIO(content)
+                size = len(content)
+            else:
+                fobj = content
+                size = from_fs.getsize(from_info)
+
+            desc = (
+                from_info.name
+                if isinstance(from_info, from_fs.PATH_CLS)
+                else from_info
+            )
+            return to_fs.upload_fobj(fobj, to_info, size=size, desc=desc)
+
         if use_move:
             return to_fs.move(from_info, to_info)
 
@@ -33,7 +50,8 @@ def transfer(
             return from_fs.download_file(from_info, to_info)
 
         with from_fs.open(from_info, mode="rb") as fobj:
-            return to_fs.upload_fobj(fobj, to_info)
+            size = from_fs.getsize(from_info)
+            return to_fs.upload_fobj(fobj, to_info, size=size)
     except OSError as exc:
         # If the target file already exists, we are going to simply
         # ignore the exception (#4992).
diff --git a/dvc/objects/db/reference.py b/dvc/objects/db/reference.py
index 0c1654ac03..36e2cf8320 100644
--- a/dvc/objects/db/reference.py
+++ b/dvc/objects/db/reference.py
@@ -1,6 +1,4 @@
-import io
 import logging
-import os
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Dict
 
 from dvc.scheme import Schemes
@@ -60,25 +58,19 @@ def _add_file(
         hash_info: "HashInfo",
         move: bool = False,
     ):
+        from dvc import fs
+
         self.makedirs(to_info.parent)
         if hash_info.isdir:
             return super()._add_file(
-                from_fs, from_info, to_info, hash_info, move
+                from_fs, from_info, to_info, hash_info, move=move
             )
+
         ref_file = ReferenceHashFile(from_info, from_fs, hash_info)
         self._obj_cache[hash_info] = ref_file
-        ref_fobj = io.BytesIO(ref_file.to_bytes())
-        ref_fobj.seek(0)
-        try:
-            self.fs.upload_fobj(ref_fobj, to_info)
-        except OSError as exc:
-            if isinstance(exc, FileExistsError) or (
-                os.name == "nt"
-                and exc.__context__
-                and isinstance(exc.__context__, FileExistsError)
-            ):
-                logger.debug("'%s' file already exists, skipping", to_info)
-            else:
-                raise
+        content = ref_file.to_bytes()
+        fs.utils.transfer(
+            from_fs, from_info, self.fs, to_info, move=move, content=content
+        )
         if from_fs.scheme != Schemes.LOCAL:
             self._fs_cache[ReferenceHashFile.config_tuple(from_fs)] = from_fs
diff --git a/dvc/objects/stage.py b/dvc/objects/stage.py
index c86fc1b485..0342ce5bbd 100644
--- a/dvc/objects/stage.py
+++ b/dvc/objects/stage.py
@@ -28,18 +28,17 @@
 
 
 def _upload_file(path_info, fs, odb, upload_odb):
+    from dvc.fs.utils import transfer
     from dvc.utils import tmp_fname
     from dvc.utils.stream import HashedStreamReader
 
     tmp_info = upload_odb.path_info / tmp_fname()
     with fs.open(path_info, mode="rb", chunk_size=fs.CHUNK_SIZE) as stream:
-        stream = HashedStreamReader(stream)
-        upload_odb.fs.upload_fobj(
-            stream, tmp_info, desc=path_info.name, size=fs.getsize(path_info)
-        )
+        wrapped = HashedStreamReader(stream)
+        transfer(fs, path_info, upload_odb.fs, tmp_info, content=wrapped)
 
-    odb.add(tmp_info, upload_odb.fs, stream.hash_info)
-    return path_info, odb.get(stream.hash_info)
+    odb.add(tmp_info, upload_odb.fs, wrapped.hash_info)
+    return path_info, odb.get(wrapped.hash_info)
 
 
 def _get_file_hash(path_info, fs, name):