diff --git a/daemon/main.c b/daemon/main.c
index a0e2c9a45..3dc281343 100644
--- a/daemon/main.c
+++ b/daemon/main.c
@@ -678,6 +678,7 @@ static void options(int *argc, char ***argv, GHashTable *templates) {
 		{ "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"},
+		{ "preload-db-cache",0,0,G_OPTION_ARG_STRING_ARRAY,&rtpe_config.preload_db_cache,"Preload media from database for playback into file cache","INT"},
 		{ "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"},
@@ -1491,9 +1492,14 @@ 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 (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));
+
+		if (!media_player_preload_cache(rtpe_config.preload_db_cache))
+			die("Failed to preload media from database into cache");
+
+	}
 }
 
 
diff --git a/daemon/media_player.c b/daemon/media_player.c
index ee162522f..2197f8d00 100644
--- a/daemon/media_player.c
+++ b/daemon/media_player.c
@@ -1772,6 +1772,9 @@ static void media_player_add_cache_file(const char *s, size_t len, unsigned long
 	}
 }
 
+static str dummy_dup(const char *s, size_t l) {
+	return STR_NULL;
+}
 
 static const char *media_player_get_db_id(str *out, unsigned long long id, str (*dup_fn)(const char *, size_t))
 {
@@ -1826,9 +1829,9 @@ success:;
 
 err:
 	if (query)
-		ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to start media playback from database (used query '%s'): %s", query, err);
+		ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to read media from database (used query '%s'): %s", query, err);
 	else
-		ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to start media playback from database: %s", err);
+		ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to read media from database: %s", err);
 	return err;
 }
 
@@ -2439,3 +2442,30 @@ unsigned int media_player_evict_caches(void) {
 	media_player_iterate_db_cache(media_player_evict_caches_all, &ret);
 	return ret;
 }
+
+bool media_player_preload_cache(char **ids) {
+#ifdef WITH_TRANSCODING
+	if (!ids || !ids[0])
+		return true;
+
+	for (char **idp = ids; *idp; idp++) {
+		char *id_s = *idp;
+
+		char *endp = NULL;
+		unsigned long long id = strtoull(id_s, &endp, 0);
+		if (id == 0 || id == ULLONG_MAX || (endp && *endp != '\0')) {
+			ilog(LOG_CRIT, "Invalid DB ID string number: '%s'", id_s);
+			return false;
+		}
+
+		ilog(LOG_DEBUG, "Reading media ID %llu from DB for caching", id);
+
+		str out;
+		const char *err = media_player_get_db_id(&out, id, dummy_dup);
+		if (err)
+			return false; // error has been logged already
+	}
+#endif
+
+	return true;
+}
diff --git a/docs/rtpengine.md b/docs/rtpengine.md
index 52f86569f..173221679 100644
--- a/docs/rtpengine.md
+++ b/docs/rtpengine.md
@@ -1199,6 +1199,11 @@ call to inject-DTMF won't be sent to __\-\-dtmf-log-dest=__ or __\-\-listen-tcp-
     then *rtpengine* will create the cache file for the next time the same
     media is requested.
 
+- __\-\-preload-db-cache=__*INT*
+
+    Similar to __preload-db-media__ but populates the filesystem-backed cache
+    instead of storing the media in memory.
+
 - __\-\-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 bd5a9575f..2b6ae711b 100644
--- a/etc/rtpengine.conf
+++ b/etc/rtpengine.conf
@@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ recording-method = proc
 # preload-db-media = 1; 2; 3; 4; on-demand
 # db-media-reload = 3600
 # db-media-cache = /var/cache/rtpengine
+# preload-db-cache = 1; 2; 3; 4
 
 # signalling templates (see key `templates` above)
 [templates]
diff --git a/include/main.h b/include/main.h
index e12715ebc..6671f368f 100644
--- a/include/main.h
+++ b/include/main.h
@@ -187,6 +187,7 @@ enum endpoint_learning {
 	X(https_ifs) \
 	X(preload_media_files) \
 	X(preload_db_media) \
+	X(preload_db_cache) \
 
 // these are not automatically included in rtpe_config due to different types
 #define RTPE_CONFIG_ENUM_PARAMS \
diff --git a/include/media_player.h b/include/media_player.h
index a0990ae23..56bf115e7 100644
--- a/include/media_player.h
+++ b/include/media_player.h
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ GQueue media_player_list_dbs(void);
 GQueue media_player_list_caches(void);
 bool media_player_evict_cache(unsigned long long);
 unsigned int media_player_evict_caches(void);
+bool media_player_preload_cache(char **);
 
 struct send_timer *send_timer_new(struct packet_stream *);
 void send_timer_push(struct send_timer *, struct codec_packet *);