diff --git a/recording-daemon/db.c b/recording-daemon/db.c
index a38b1e9be..515e9c655 100644
--- a/recording-daemon/db.c
+++ b/recording-daemon/db.c
@@ -263,7 +263,7 @@ static void db_do_call_id(metafile_t *mf) {
 	execute_wrap(&stm_insert_call, b, &mf->db_id);
 }
 static void db_do_call_metadata(metafile_t *mf) {
-	if (!mf->metadata_db)
+	if (mf->db_metadata_done)
 		return;
 	if (mf->db_id == 0)
 		return;
@@ -271,26 +271,17 @@ static void db_do_call_metadata(metafile_t *mf) {
 	MYSQL_BIND b[3];
 	my_ull(&b[0], &mf->db_id); // stays persistent
 
-	// XXX offload this parsing to proxy module -> bencode list/dictionary
-	str all_meta = STR_INIT(mf->metadata_db);
-	while (all_meta.len > 1) {
-		str token;
-		if (str_token_sep(&token, &all_meta, '|'))
-			break;
-
-		str key;
-		if (str_token(&key, &token, ':')) {
-			// key:value separator not found, skip
-			continue;
-		}
-
-		my_str(&b[1], &key);
-		my_str(&b[2], &token);
+	metadata_ht_iter iter;
+	t_hash_table_iter_init(&iter, mf->metadata_parsed);
+	str *key, *token;
+	while (t_hash_table_iter_next(&iter, &key, &token)) {
+		my_str(&b[1], key);
+		my_str(&b[2], token);
 
 		execute_wrap(&stm_insert_metadata, b, NULL);
 	}
 
-	mf->metadata_db = NULL;
+	mf->db_metadata_done = 1;
 }
 
 void db_do_call(metafile_t *mf) {
diff --git a/recording-daemon/metafile.c b/recording-daemon/metafile.c
index bed0f666c..8c632be2f 100644
--- a/recording-daemon/metafile.c
+++ b/recording-daemon/metafile.c
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ static void meta_free(void *ptr) {
 		tag_free(tag);
 	}
 
+	t_hash_table_destroy(mf->metadata_parsed);
 	g_ptr_array_free(mf->tags, TRUE);
 	g_ptr_array_free(mf->streams, TRUE);
 	g_slice_free1(sizeof(*mf), mf);
@@ -165,10 +166,30 @@ static void meta_ptime(metafile_t *mf, unsigned long mnum, int ptime)
 	mf->media_ptimes[mnum] = ptime;
 }
 
+// mf is locked
+// updates the contents, does not remove previously set entries
+static void meta_metadata_parse(metafile_t *mf) {
+	// XXX offload this parsing to proxy module -> bencode list/dictionary
+	str all_meta = STR_INIT(mf->metadata);
+	while (all_meta.len > 1) {
+		str token;
+		if (str_token_sep(&token, &all_meta, '|'))
+			break;
+
+		str key;
+		if (str_token(&key, &token, ':')) {
+			// key:value separator not found, skip
+			continue;
+		}
+
+		t_hash_table_replace(mf->metadata_parsed, str_dup(&key), str_dup(&token));
+	}
+}
+
 // mf is locked
 static void meta_metadata(metafile_t *mf, char *content) {
 	mf->metadata = g_string_chunk_insert(mf->gsc, content);
-	mf->metadata_db = mf->metadata;
+	meta_metadata_parse(mf);
 	db_do_call(mf);
 	if (forward_to)
 		start_forwarding_capture(mf, content);
@@ -248,6 +269,7 @@ static metafile_t *metafile_get(char *name) {
 	mf->forward_failed = 0;
 	mf->recording_on = 1;
 	mf->start_time = now_double();
+	mf->metadata_parsed = metadata_ht_new();
 
 	if (decoding_enabled) {
 		pthread_mutex_init(&mf->payloads_lock, NULL);
diff --git a/recording-daemon/notify.c b/recording-daemon/notify.c
index 95f7d689d..d277d966e 100644
--- a/recording-daemon/notify.c
+++ b/recording-daemon/notify.c
@@ -309,8 +309,8 @@ void notify_push_output(output_t *o, metafile_t *mf, tag_t *tag) {
 		notify_add_header(req, "X-Recording-Stream-DB-ID: %llu", o->db_id);
 	if (mf->metadata)
 		notify_add_header(req, "X-Recording-Call-Metadata: %s", mf->metadata);
-	if (mf->metadata_db)
-		notify_add_header(req, "X-Recording-DB-Metadata: %s", mf->metadata_db);
+	if (mf->metadata)
+		notify_add_header(req, "X-Recording-DB-Metadata: %s", mf->metadata);
 
 	if (tag) {
 		notify_add_header(req, "X-Recording-Tag: %s", tag->name);
diff --git a/recording-daemon/types.h b/recording-daemon/types.h
index b50fc7e6e..492189a57 100644
--- a/recording-daemon/types.h
+++ b/recording-daemon/types.h
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include "codeclib.h"
 #include "poller.h"
 #include "socket.h"
+#include "containers.h"
 
 
 struct iphdr;
@@ -108,6 +109,9 @@ struct tag_s {
 typedef struct tag_s tag_t;
 
 
+TYPED_GHASHTABLE(metadata_ht, str, str, str_hash, str_equal, str_free, str_free)
+
+
 struct metafile_s {
 	pthread_mutex_t lock;
 	char *name;
@@ -115,7 +119,7 @@ struct metafile_s {
 	char *call_id;
 	char *random_tag;
 	char *metadata;
-	char *metadata_db;
+	metadata_ht metadata_parsed;
 	char *output_dest;
 	char *output_path;
 	char *output_pattern;
@@ -147,6 +151,7 @@ struct metafile_s {
 	unsigned int recording_on:1;
 	unsigned int forwarding_on:1;
 	unsigned int discard:1;
+	unsigned int db_metadata_done:1;
 };