diff --git a/daemon/main.c b/daemon/main.c
index a5ea823d6..a0e2c9a45 100644
--- a/daemon/main.c
+++ b/daemon/main.c
@@ -677,6 +677,7 @@ static void options(int *argc, char ***argv, GHashTable *templates) {
 		{ "media-files-reload",0,0,G_OPTION_ARG_INT,	&rtpe_config.media_refresh,"Refresh/reload preloaded media files at a certain interval","SECONDS"},
 		{ "preload-db-media",0,0,G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY,&rtpe_config.preload_db_media,"Preload media from database for playback into memory","INT"},
 		{ "db-media-reload",0,0,G_OPTION_ARG_INT,	&rtpe_config.db_refresh,"Reload preloaded media from DB at a certain interval","SECONDS"},
+		{ "db-media-cache",0,0,	G_OPTION_ARG_FILENAME,	&rtpe_config.db_media_cache,"Directory to store media loaded from database","PATH"},
 		{ "audio-buffer-length",0,0,	G_OPTION_ARG_INT,&rtpe_config.audio_buffer_length,"Length in milliseconds of audio buffer","INT"},
 		{ "audio-buffer-delay",0,0,	G_OPTION_ARG_INT,&rtpe_config.audio_buffer_delay,"Initial delay in milliseconds for buffered audio","INT"},
 		{ "audio-player",0,0,	G_OPTION_ARG_STRING,	&use_audio_player,	"When to enable the internal audio player","on-demand|play-media|transcoding|always"},
@@ -1489,6 +1490,10 @@ static void create_everything(void) {
 
 	if (!media_player_preload_db(rtpe_config.preload_db_media))
 		die("Failed to preload media from database");
+
+	if (rtpe_config.db_media_cache)
+		if (g_mkdir_with_parents(rtpe_config.db_media_cache, 0700))
+			die("Failed to create cache directory for media loaded from DB: %s", strerror(errno));
 }
 
 
diff --git a/daemon/media_player.c b/daemon/media_player.c
index 3076838bc..981b0059a 100644
--- a/daemon/media_player.c
+++ b/daemon/media_player.c
@@ -1755,6 +1755,23 @@ err:
 	return -1;
 }
 
+static char *media_player_make_cache_entry_name(unsigned long long id) {
+	return g_strdup_printf("%s/%llu.blob", rtpe_config.db_media_cache, id);
+}
+
+static void media_player_add_cache_file(const char *s, size_t len, unsigned long long id) {
+	if (!rtpe_config.db_media_cache)
+		return;
+
+	g_autoptr(char) fn = media_player_make_cache_entry_name(id);
+	GError *err = NULL;
+	gboolean ok = g_file_set_contents(fn, s, len, &err);
+	if (!ok) {
+		ilog(LOG_WARN, "Failed to write to cache file '%s': %s", fn, err->message);
+		g_error_free(err);
+	}
+}
+
 
 static const char *media_player_get_db_id(str *out, unsigned long long id, str (*dup_fn)(const char *, size_t))
 {
@@ -1802,6 +1819,8 @@ success:;
 		goto err;
 	}
 
+	media_player_add_cache_file(row[0], lengths[0], id);
+
 	*out = dup_fn(row[0], lengths[0]);
 	return NULL;
 
@@ -1828,6 +1847,24 @@ static mp_cached_code __media_player_add_db(struct media_player *mp,
 		return media_player_set_media_file(mp, opts, dst_pt, fo);
 	}
 
+	// or maybe we have a cache file for it
+	if (rtpe_config.db_media_cache) {
+		g_autoptr(char) fn = media_player_make_cache_entry_name(opts.db_id);
+		gchar *buf = NULL;
+		gsize len = -1;
+		gboolean ret = g_file_get_contents(fn, &buf, &len, NULL);
+		if (ret && len > 0) {
+			// use this as blob and play it
+			ilog(LOG_DEBUG, "Using cached file of DB media for playback");
+			// use a `media_player_media_file` object to hold a reference on the g_malloc'd
+			// data to avoid having to memcpy it
+			fo = media_player_media_file_new(STR_LEN(buf, len));
+			return media_player_set_media_file(mp, opts, dst_pt, fo);
+		}
+		if (ret) // zero-length file
+			g_free(buf);
+	}
+
 	err = media_player_get_db_id(&opts.blob, opts.db_id, call_str_cpy_len);
 	if (err)
 		return MPC_ERR;
diff --git a/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.dirs b/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.dirs
index 09f36ded2..e3d3459a8 100644
--- a/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.dirs
+++ b/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.dirs
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 etc/modprobe.d
+var/cache/rtpengine
 var/spool/rtpengine
diff --git a/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.postinst b/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.postinst
index 6055b235d..fbb2c628c 100644
--- a/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.postinst
+++ b/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.postinst
@@ -43,6 +43,12 @@ if [ "$1" = configure ]; then
 		chmod 0770 "$rtpdir"
 	fi
 
+	cachedir='/var/cache/rtpengine'
+	if ! dpkg-statoverride --list "$cachedir" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+		chown rtpengine:rtpengine "$cachedir"
+		chmod 0770 "$cachedir"
+	fi
+
 	# set up modprobe.d fragment for auto-load usage
 	if ! [ -f /etc/modprobe.d/rtpengine.conf ] || grep -q DPKG-GENERATED /etc/modprobe.d/rtpengine.conf; then
 		OPTIONS="options xt_RTPENGINE proc_mask=0x7"
diff --git a/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service b/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service
index 267f7a3a3..c6cae9aad 100644
--- a/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service
+++ b/debian/ngcp-rtpengine-daemon.service
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ ProtectKernelTunables=true
 ProtectSystem=strict
 
 # Allow write access
-ReadWritePaths=/var/spool/rtpengine
+ReadWritePaths=/var/cache/rtpengine /var/spool/rtpengine
 
 # Access to the kernel log ring buffer will be denied
 ProtectKernelLogs=true
diff --git a/docs/rtpengine.md b/docs/rtpengine.md
index 93157b1c1..52f86569f 100644
--- a/docs/rtpengine.md
+++ b/docs/rtpengine.md
@@ -1187,6 +1187,18 @@ call to inject-DTMF won't be sent to __\-\-dtmf-log-dest=__ or __\-\-listen-tcp-
     timestamp, which means that all media will always be reloaded from the
     database in the given interval.
 
+- __\-\-db-media-cache=__*PATH*
+
+    Enables filesystem-backed caching of media entries from the database. The
+    given path must be readable and writeable by *rtpengine*.
+
+    Whenever playback of media from the database is requested, *rtpengine*
+    first checks if a corresponding cached file within the given path exists.
+    If it exists, media will be read from that file instead of from the
+    database. If it doesn't exist, media will be read from the database, and
+    then *rtpengine* will create the cache file for the next time the same
+    media is requested.
+
 - __\-\-audio-buffer-length=__*INT*
 
     Set the buffer length used by the audio player (see below) in milliseconds. The
diff --git a/etc/rtpengine.conf b/etc/rtpengine.conf
index c73ed4589..bd5a9575f 100644
--- a/etc/rtpengine.conf
+++ b/etc/rtpengine.conf
@@ -169,6 +169,7 @@ recording-method = proc
 # media-files-reload = 60
 # preload-db-media = 1; 2; 3; 4; on-demand
 # db-media-reload = 3600
+# db-media-cache = /var/cache/rtpengine
 
 # signalling templates (see key `templates` above)
 [templates]
diff --git a/include/main.h b/include/main.h
index 8862b9a42..e12715ebc 100644
--- a/include/main.h
+++ b/include/main.h
@@ -154,7 +154,8 @@ enum endpoint_learning {
 	X(mqtt_certfile) \
 	X(mqtt_keyfile) \
 	X(mqtt_publish_topic) \
-	X(janus_secret)
+	X(janus_secret) \
+	X(db_media_cache) \
 
 #define RTPE_CONFIG_ENDPOINT_PARAMS \
 	X(graphite_ep) \