diff --git a/recording-daemon/db.c b/recording-daemon/db.c
index 5a50ae5af..f4d4c6df5 100644
--- a/recording-daemon/db.c
+++ b/recording-daemon/db.c
@@ -84,9 +84,16 @@ static int check_conn() {
 	if (prep(&stm_close_call, "update recording_calls set " \
 				"end_timestamp = ?, status = 'completed' where id = ?"))
 		goto err;
-	if (prep(&stm_close_stream, "update recording_streams set " \
-				"end_timestamp = ?, stream = ? where id = ?"))
-		goto err;
+	if ((output_storage & OUTPUT_STORAGE_DB)) {
+		if (prep(&stm_close_stream, "update recording_streams set " \
+					"end_timestamp = ?, stream = ? where id = ?"))
+			goto err;
+	}
+	else {
+		if (prep(&stm_close_stream, "update recording_streams set " \
+					"end_timestamp = ? where id = ?"))
+			goto err;
+	}
 	if (prep(&stm_config_stream, "update recording_streams set channels = ?, sample_rate = ? where id = ?"))
 		goto err;
 	if (prep(&stm_insert_metadata, "insert into recording_metakeys (`call`, `key`, `value`) values " \
@@ -310,12 +317,12 @@ void db_close_stream(output_t *op) {
         stream.s = 0;
         stream.len = 0;
 
-	if (!strcmp(output_storage, "db") || !strcmp(output_storage, "both")) {
+	if ((output_storage & OUTPUT_STORAGE_DB)) {
 		filename = malloc(strlen(op->full_filename) +
 				  strlen(op->file_format) + 2);
 		if (!filename) {
 			ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to allocate memory for filename");
-			if (!strcmp(output_storage, "both"))
+			if ((output_storage & OUTPUT_STORAGE_FILE))
 				goto file;
 			return;
 		}
@@ -325,7 +332,7 @@ void db_close_stream(output_t *op) {
 		FILE *f = fopen(filename, "rb");
 		if (!f) {
 			ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to open file: %s", filename);
-			if (!strcmp(output_storage, "both"))
+			if ((output_storage & OUTPUT_STORAGE_FILE))
 				goto file;
 			free(filename);
 			return;
@@ -338,7 +345,7 @@ void db_close_stream(output_t *op) {
 			size_t count = fread(stream.s, 1, stream.len, f);
 			if (count != stream.len) {
 				ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to read from stream");
-				if (!strcmp(output_storage, "both"))
+				if ((output_storage & OUTPUT_STORAGE_FILE))
 					goto file;
 				free(filename);
 				return;
@@ -347,16 +354,18 @@ void db_close_stream(output_t *op) {
 		fclose(f);
         }
 
-file:
-	my_d(&b[0], &now);
-	my_str(&b[1], &stream);
-	my_ull(&b[2], &op->db_id);
+file:;
+	int par_idx = 0;
+	my_d(&b[par_idx++], &now);
+	if ((output_storage & OUTPUT_STORAGE_DB))
+		my_str(&b[par_idx++], &stream);
+	my_ull(&b[par_idx++], &op->db_id);
 
 	execute_wrap(&stm_close_stream, b, NULL);
 
         if (stream.s)
 		free(stream.s);
-	if (!strcmp(output_storage, "db"))
+	if (!(output_storage & OUTPUT_STORAGE_FILE))
 		remove(filename);
         free(filename);
 }
diff --git a/recording-daemon/main.c b/recording-daemon/main.c
index 732ae5eb5..75b16b56e 100644
--- a/recording-daemon/main.c
+++ b/recording-daemon/main.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
 int ktable = 0;
 int num_threads = 8;
-const char *output_storage = "file";
+enum output_storage_enum output_storage = OUTPUT_STORAGE_FILE;
 const char *spool_dir = "/var/spool/rtpengine";
 const char *output_dir = "/var/lib/rtpengine-recording";
 static const char *output_format = "wav";
@@ -135,11 +135,13 @@ static void cleanup(void) {
 
 
 static void options(int *argc, char ***argv) {
+	const char *os_str;
+
 	GOptionEntry e[] = {
 		{ "table",		't', 0, G_OPTION_ARG_INT,	&ktable,	"Kernel table rtpengine uses",		"INT"		},
 		{ "spool-dir",		0,   0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING,	&spool_dir,	"Directory containing rtpengine metadata files", "PATH" },
 		{ "num-threads",	0,   0, G_OPTION_ARG_INT,	&num_threads,	"Number of worker threads",		"INT"		},
-		{ "output-storage",	0,   0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING,	&output_storage,"Where to store audio streams",	        "file|db|both"	},
+		{ "output-storage",	0,   0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING,	&os_str,	"Where to store audio streams",	        "file|db|both"	},
 		{ "output-dir",		0,   0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING,	&output_dir,	"Where to write media files to",	"PATH"		},
 		{ "output-format",	0,   0, G_OPTION_ARG_STRING,	&output_format,	"Write audio files of this type",	"wav|mp3|none"	},
 		{ "resample-to",	0,   0, G_OPTION_ARG_INT,	&resample_audio,"Resample all output audio",		"INT"		},
@@ -168,6 +170,15 @@ static void options(int *argc, char ***argv) {
 		}
 	} else if (!output_mixed && !output_single)
 		output_mixed = output_single = 1;
+
+	if (!strcmp(os_str, "file"))
+		output_storage = OUTPUT_STORAGE_FILE;
+	else if (!strcmp(os_str, "db"))
+		output_storage = OUTPUT_STORAGE_DB;
+	else if (!strcmp(os_str, "both"))
+		output_storage = OUTPUT_STORAGE_BOTH;
+	else
+		die("Invalid 'output-storage' option");
 }
 
 
diff --git a/recording-daemon/main.h b/recording-daemon/main.h
index cbfeb17c4..2973ea17c 100644
--- a/recording-daemon/main.h
+++ b/recording-daemon/main.h
@@ -5,9 +5,15 @@
 #include "auxlib.h"
 
 
+enum output_storage_enum {
+	OUTPUT_STORAGE_FILE = 0x1,
+	OUTPUT_STORAGE_DB = 0x2,
+	OUTPUT_STORAGE_BOTH = 0x3,
+};
+
 extern int ktable;
 extern int num_threads;
-extern const char *output_storage;
+extern enum output_storage_enum output_storage;
 extern const char *spool_dir;
 extern const char *output_dir;
 extern int output_mixed;