diff --git a/src/log-filestore.c b/src/log-filestore.c
index 90e6cd7f46..8777b4a60f 100644
--- a/src/log-filestore.c
+++ b/src/log-filestore.c
@@ -64,12 +64,21 @@
 
 static char g_logfile_base_dir[PATH_MAX] = "/tmp";
 
+SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(uint32_t, filestore_open_file_cnt);  /**< Atomic counter of simultaneously open files */
+
 typedef struct LogFilestoreLogThread_ {
     LogFileCtx *file_ctx;
     /** LogFilestoreCtx has the pointer to the file and a mutex to allow multithreading */
     uint32_t file_cnt;
+    uint16_t counter_max_hits;
 } LogFilestoreLogThread;
 
+static uint64_t LogFilestoreOpenFilesCounter(void)
+{
+    uint64_t fcopy = SC_ATOMIC_GET(filestore_open_file_cnt);
+    return fcopy;
+}
+
 static void LogFilestoreMetaGetUri(FILE *fp, const Packet *p, const File *ff)
 {
     HtpState *htp_state = (HtpState *)p->flow->alstate;
@@ -182,6 +191,18 @@ static int FileWriteMeta(void)
     return g_file_write_meta;
 }
 
+static uint32_t g_file_store_max_open_files = 0;
+
+static void FileSetMaxOpenFiles(uint32_t count)
+{
+    g_file_store_max_open_files = count;
+}
+
+static uint32_t FileGetMaxOpenFiles(void)
+{
+    return g_file_store_max_open_files;
+}
+
 static void LogFilestoreLogCreateMetaFile(const Packet *p, const File *ff, char *filename, int ipver) {
     if (!FileWriteMeta())
         return;
@@ -321,7 +342,7 @@ static void LogFilestoreLogCloseMetaFile(const File *ff)
 }
 
 static int LogFilestoreLogger(ThreadVars *tv, void *thread_data, const Packet *p,
-        const File *ff, const uint8_t *data, uint32_t data_len, uint8_t flags)
+        File *ff, const uint8_t *data, uint32_t data_len, uint8_t flags)
 {
     SCEnter();
     LogFilestoreLogThread *aft = (LogFilestoreLogThread *)thread_data;
@@ -353,17 +374,34 @@ static int LogFilestoreLogger(ThreadVars *tv, void *thread_data, const Packet *p
         /* create a .meta file that contains time, src/dst/sp/dp/proto */
         LogFilestoreLogCreateMetaFile(p, ff, filename, ipver);
 
-        file_fd = open(filename, O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_NOFOLLOW | O_WRONLY, 0644);
-        if (file_fd == -1) {
-            SCLogDebug("failed to create file");
-            return -1;
+        if (SC_ATOMIC_GET(filestore_open_file_cnt) < FileGetMaxOpenFiles()) {
+            SC_ATOMIC_ADD(filestore_open_file_cnt, 1);
+            ff->fd = open(filename, O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_NOFOLLOW | O_WRONLY, 0644);
+            if (ff->fd == -1) {
+                SCLogDebug("failed to create file");
+                return -1;
+            }
+            file_fd = ff->fd;
+        } else {
+            file_fd = open(filename, O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_NOFOLLOW | O_WRONLY, 0644);
+            if (file_fd == -1) {
+                SCLogDebug("failed to create file");
+                return -1;
+            }
+            if (FileGetMaxOpenFiles() > 0) {
+                StatsIncr(tv, aft->counter_max_hits);
+            }
         }
     /* we can get called with a NULL ffd when we need to close */
     } else if (data != NULL) {
-        file_fd = open(filename, O_APPEND | O_NOFOLLOW | O_WRONLY);
-        if (file_fd == -1) {
-            SCLogDebug("failed to open file %s: %s", filename, strerror(errno));
-            return -1;
+        if (ff->fd == -1) {
+            file_fd = open(filename, O_APPEND | O_NOFOLLOW | O_WRONLY);
+            if (file_fd == -1) {
+                SCLogDebug("failed to open file %s: %s", filename, strerror(errno));
+                return -1;
+            }
+        } else {
+            file_fd = ff->fd;
         }
     }
 
@@ -371,11 +409,22 @@ static int LogFilestoreLogger(ThreadVars *tv, void *thread_data, const Packet *p
         ssize_t r = write(file_fd, (const void *)data, (size_t)data_len);
         if (r == -1) {
             SCLogDebug("write failed: %s", strerror(errno));
+            if (ff->fd != -1) {
+                SC_ATOMIC_SUB(filestore_open_file_cnt, 1);
+            }
+            ff->fd = -1;
+        }
+        if (ff->fd == -1) {
+            close(file_fd);
         }
-        close(file_fd);
     }
 
     if (flags & OUTPUT_FILEDATA_FLAG_CLOSE) {
+        if (ff->fd != -1) {
+            close(ff->fd);
+            ff->fd = -1;
+            SC_ATOMIC_SUB(filestore_open_file_cnt, 1);
+        }
         LogFilestoreLogCloseMetaFile(ff);
     }
 
@@ -418,6 +467,8 @@ static TmEcode LogFilestoreLogThreadInit(ThreadVars *t, const void *initdata, vo
 
     }
 
+    aft->counter_max_hits = StatsRegisterCounter("file_store.open_files_max_hit", t);
+
     *data = (void *)aft;
     return TM_ECODE_OK;
 }
@@ -528,9 +579,35 @@ static OutputCtx *LogFilestoreLogInitCtx(ConfNode *conf)
         }
     }
 
+    const char *file_count_str = ConfNodeLookupChildValue(conf, "max-open-files");
+    if (file_count_str != NULL) {
+        uint32_t file_count = 0;
+        if (ParseSizeStringU32(file_count_str,
+                               &file_count) < 0) {
+            SCLogError(SC_ERR_SIZE_PARSE, "Error parsing "
+                       "file-store.max-open-files "
+                       "from conf file - %s.  Killing engine",
+                       stream_depth_str);
+            exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        } else {
+            if (file_count != 0) {
+                FileSetMaxOpenFiles(file_count);
+                SCLogInfo("file-store will keep a max of %d simultaneously"
+                          " open files", file_count);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     SCReturnPtr(output_ctx, "OutputCtx");
 }
 
+
+void LogFilestoreInitConfig(void)
+{
+    StatsRegisterGlobalCounter("file_store.open_files", LogFilestoreOpenFilesCounter);
+}
+
+
 void LogFilestoreRegister (void)
 {
     OutputRegisterFiledataModule(LOGGER_FILE_STORE, MODULE_NAME, "file",
@@ -540,5 +617,7 @@ void LogFilestoreRegister (void)
         LogFilestoreLogInitCtx, LogFilestoreLogger, LogFilestoreLogThreadInit,
         LogFilestoreLogThreadDeinit, LogFilestoreLogExitPrintStats);
 
+    SC_ATOMIC_INIT(filestore_open_file_cnt);
+    SC_ATOMIC_SET(filestore_open_file_cnt, 0);
     SCLogDebug("registered");
 }
diff --git a/src/log-filestore.h b/src/log-filestore.h
index d477506fc5..07b8da96b2 100644
--- a/src/log-filestore.h
+++ b/src/log-filestore.h
@@ -25,5 +25,6 @@
 #define __LOG_FILESTORE_H__
 
 void LogFilestoreRegister(void);
+void LogFilestoreInitConfig(void);
 
 #endif /* __LOG_FILELOG_H__ */
diff --git a/src/output-filedata.c b/src/output-filedata.c
index 3964de86c2..224ab7adc0 100644
--- a/src/output-filedata.c
+++ b/src/output-filedata.c
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ int OutputRegisterFiledataLogger(LoggerId id, const char *name,
 SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(unsigned int, g_file_store_id);
 
 static int CallLoggers(ThreadVars *tv, OutputLoggerThreadStore *store_list,
-        Packet *p, const File *ff,
+        Packet *p, File *ff,
         const uint8_t *data, uint32_t data_len, uint8_t flags)
 {
     OutputFiledataLogger *logger = list;
diff --git a/src/output-filedata.h b/src/output-filedata.h
index 4c661b2de1..8a280b6752 100644
--- a/src/output-filedata.h
+++ b/src/output-filedata.h
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 /** filedata logger function pointer type */
 typedef int (*FiledataLogger)(ThreadVars *, void *thread_data, const Packet *,
-        const File *, const uint8_t *, uint32_t, uint8_t);
+        File *, const uint8_t *, uint32_t, uint8_t);
 
 /** packet logger condition function pointer type,
  *  must return true for packets that should be logged
diff --git a/src/suricata.c b/src/suricata.c
index ee5499faa0..1ec7f1c6b4 100644
--- a/src/suricata.c
+++ b/src/suricata.c
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@
 #include "host-storage.h"
 
 #include "util-lua.h"
+#include "log-filestore.h"
 
 #ifdef HAVE_RUST
 #include "rust.h"
@@ -2218,6 +2219,7 @@ void PreRunInit(const int runmode)
     DefragInit();
     FlowInitConfig(FLOW_QUIET);
     IPPairInitConfig(FLOW_QUIET);
+    LogFilestoreInitConfig();
     StreamTcpInitConfig(STREAM_VERBOSE);
     AppLayerParserPostStreamSetup();
     AppLayerRegisterGlobalCounters();
diff --git a/src/util-file.c b/src/util-file.c
index 86dd8df267..c7ee27e45a 100644
--- a/src/util-file.c
+++ b/src/util-file.c
@@ -776,6 +776,8 @@ File *FileOpenFile(FileContainer *ffc, const StreamingBufferConfig *sbcfg,
     ff->state = FILE_STATE_OPENED;
     SCLogDebug("flowfile state transitioned to FILE_STATE_OPENED");
 
+    ff->fd = -1;
+
     FileContainerAdd(ffc, ff);
 
     if (data != NULL) {
diff --git a/src/util-file.h b/src/util-file.h
index 4c52adae1d..6d6ae9e75d 100644
--- a/src/util-file.h
+++ b/src/util-file.h
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ typedef struct File_ {
     uint32_t file_track_id;         /**< id used by protocol parser. Optional
                                      *   only used if FILE_USE_TRACKID flag set */
     uint32_t file_store_id;         /**< id used in store file name file.<id> */
+    int fd;                         /**< file descriptor for filestore, not
+                                        open if equal to -1 */
     uint8_t *name;
 #ifdef HAVE_MAGIC
     char *magic;
diff --git a/suricata.yaml.in b/suricata.yaml.in
index d0462f7079..c7a4ea8be3 100644
--- a/suricata.yaml.in
+++ b/suricata.yaml.in
@@ -442,6 +442,10 @@ outputs:
       #waldo: file.waldo # waldo file to store the file_id across runs
       # uncomment to disable meta file writing
       #write-meta: no
+      # uncomment the following variable to define how many files can
+      # remain open for filestore by Suricata. Default value is 0 which
+      # means files get closed after each write
+      #max-open-files: 1000
 
   # output module to log files tracked in a easily parsable json format
   - file-log: