diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/ComposeContainerFileCopyInclusionsTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/ComposeContainerFileCopyInclusionsTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..792b150c805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/junit/ComposeContainerFileCopyInclusionsTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+package org.testcontainers.junit;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.ComposeContainer;
+import org.testcontainers.containers.ContainerLaunchException;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.Scanner;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatExceptionOfType;
+
+public class ComposeContainerFileCopyInclusionsTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testShouldCopyAllFilesByDefault() throws IOException {
+        try (
+            ComposeContainer environment = new ComposeContainer(
+                new File("src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose.yml")
+            )
+                .withExposedService("app", 8080)
+        ) {
+            environment.start();
+
+            Integer servicePort = environment.getServicePort("app-1", 8080);
+            String serviceHost = environment.getServiceHost("app-1", 8080);
+            String response = readStringFromURL("http://" + serviceHost + ":" + servicePort + "/env");
+            assertThat(response).isEqualTo("MY_ENV_VARIABLE: override");
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWithFileCopyInclusionUsingFilePath() throws IOException {
+        try (
+            ComposeContainer environment = new ComposeContainer(
+                new File("src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-root-only.yml")
+            )
+                .withExposedService("app", 8080)
+                .withFileCopyInclusions("Dockerfile", "EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java", ".env")
+        ) {
+            environment.start();
+
+            Integer servicePort = environment.getServicePort("app-1", 8080);
+            String serviceHost = environment.getServiceHost("app-1", 8080);
+            String response = readStringFromURL("http://" + serviceHost + ":" + servicePort + "/env");
+
+            // The `test/.env` file is not copied, now so we get the original value
+            assertThat(response).isEqualTo("MY_ENV_VARIABLE: original");
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testWithFileCopyInclusionUsingDirectoryPath() throws IOException {
+        try (
+            ComposeContainer environment = new ComposeContainer(
+                new File("src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-test-only.yml")
+            )
+                .withExposedService("app", 8080)
+                .withFileCopyInclusions("Dockerfile", "EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java", "test")
+        ) {
+            environment.start();
+
+            Integer servicePort = environment.getServicePort("app-1", 8080);
+            String serviceHost = environment.getServiceHost("app-1", 8080);
+            String response = readStringFromURL("http://" + serviceHost + ":" + servicePort + "/env");
+            // The test directory (with its contents) is copied, so we get the override
+            assertThat(response).isEqualTo("MY_ENV_VARIABLE: override");
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testShouldNotBeAbleToStartIfNeededEnvFileIsNotCopied() {
+        try (
+            ComposeContainer environment = new ComposeContainer(
+                new File("src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-test-only.yml")
+            )
+                .withExposedService("app", 8080)
+                .withFileCopyInclusions("Dockerfile", "EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java")
+        ) {
+            assertThatExceptionOfType(ContainerLaunchException.class)
+                .isThrownBy(environment::start)
+                .withMessage("Container startup failed for image docker:24.0.2");
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static String readStringFromURL(String requestURL) throws IOException {
+        try (Scanner scanner = new Scanner(new URL(requestURL).openStream(), StandardCharsets.UTF_8.toString())) {
+            scanner.useDelimiter("\\A");
+            return scanner.hasNext() ? scanner.next() : "";
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/.env b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bb5b5beb3e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+MY_ENV_VARIABLE=original
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/Dockerfile b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..851086d68c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+FROM jbangdev/jbang-action
+
+WORKDIR /app
+COPY EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java .
+
+RUN jbang export portable --force EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java
+
+EXPOSE 8080
+CMD ["./EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java"]
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ead172bbb35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/EnvVariableRestEndpoint.java
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+///usr/bin/env jbang "$0" "$@" ; exit $?
+
+import com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpServer;
+import com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpHandler;
+import com.sun.net.httpserver.HttpExchange;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
+
+public class EnvVariableRestEndpoint {
+    private static final String ENV_VARIABLE_NAME = "MY_ENV_VARIABLE";
+    private static final int PORT = 8080;
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
+        HttpServer server = HttpServer.create(new InetSocketAddress(PORT), 0);
+        server.createContext("/env", new EnvVariableHandler());
+        server.setExecutor(null);
+        server.start();
+        System.out.println("Server started on port " + PORT);
+    }
+
+    static class EnvVariableHandler implements HttpHandler {
+        @Override
+        public void handle(HttpExchange exchange) throws IOException {
+            if ("GET".equals(exchange.getRequestMethod())) {
+                String envValue = System.getenv(ENV_VARIABLE_NAME);
+                String response = envValue != null
+                    ? ENV_VARIABLE_NAME + ": " + envValue
+                    : "Environment variable " + ENV_VARIABLE_NAME + " not found";
+
+                exchange.sendResponseHeaders(200, response.length());
+                try (OutputStream os = exchange.getResponseBody()) {
+                    os.write(response.getBytes());
+                }
+            } else {
+                String response = "Method not allowed";
+                exchange.sendResponseHeaders(405, response.length());
+                try (OutputStream os = exchange.getResponseBody()) {
+                    os.write(response.getBytes());
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-root-only.yml b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-root-only.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fa17d5f472d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-root-only.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+services:
+  app:
+    build: .
+    ports:
+      - "8080:8080"
+    env_file:
+      - '.env'
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-test-only.yml b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-test-only.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..943f908ce20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose-test-only.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+services:
+  app:
+    build: .
+    ports:
+      - "8080:8080"
+    env_file:
+      - './test/.env'
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose.yml b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2a9334d7980
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/compose.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+services:
+  app:
+    build: .
+    ports:
+      - "8080:8080"
+    env_file:
+      - '.env'
+      - './test/.env'
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/test/.env b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/test/.env
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..09867ae6d5d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/compose-file-copy-inclusions/test/.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+MY_ENV_VARIABLE=override