diff --git a/docs/simplesamlphp-maintenance.md b/docs/simplesamlphp-maintenance.md
index 1d99f19f77..ca5b04e671 100644
--- a/docs/simplesamlphp-maintenance.md
+++ b/docs/simplesamlphp-maintenance.md
@@ -165,13 +165,14 @@ By default SimpleSAMLphp will attempt to connect to Redis on the `localhost` at
 
 ## Metadata storage
 
-Several metadata storage backends are available by default, including `flatfile`, `serialize`, `mdq` and
+Several metadata storage backends are available by default, including `flatfile`, `directory`, `serialize`, `mdq` and
 [`pdo`](https://simplesamlphp.org/docs/stable/simplesamlphp-metadata-pdostoragehandler). Here you have an
 example configuration of different metadata sources in use at the same time:
 
 ```
 'metadata.sources' => [
     ['type' => 'flatfile'],
+    ['type' => 'directory'],
     ['type' => 'flatfile', 'directory' => 'metadata/metarefresh-kalmar'],
     ['type' => 'serialize', 'directory' => 'metadata/metarefresh-ukaccess'],
 ],
diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageHandlerDirectoryOfFiles.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageHandlerDirectoryOfFiles.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0c355b7577
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageHandlerDirectoryOfFiles.php
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace SimpleSAML\Metadata;
+
+use SimpleSAML\Configuration;
+use SimpleSAML\Logger;
+use Webmozart\Assert\Assert;
+
+/**
+ * This file defines a directory of files metadata source.
+ * Instantiation of session handler objects should be done through
+ * the class method getMetadataHandler().
+ *
+ * @author Philipp Kolmann, TU Wien <philipp@kolmann.at>
+ * @package SimpleSAMLphp
+ *
+ * Based on MetaDataStorageHandlerFlatFile by Andreas Åkre Solberg, UNINETT AS. <andreas.solberg@uninett.no> and
+ * MetaDataStorageHandlerSerialize.php
+ */
+
+class MetaDataStorageHandlerDirectoryOfFiles extends MetaDataStorageSource
+{
+    /**
+     * This is the directory we will load metadata files from. The path will always end
+     * with a '/'.
+     *
+     * @var string
+     */
+    private $directory = '/';
+
+
+    /**
+     * This is an associative array which stores the different metadata sets we have loaded.
+     *
+     * @var array
+     */
+    private $cachedMetadata = [];
+
+    /**
+     * The extension we use for our metadata directories.
+     *
+     * @var string
+     */
+    const EXTENSION = '.d';
+
+
+    /**
+     * This constructor initializes the directory of files metadata storage handler with the
+     * specified configuration. The configuration is an associative array with the following
+     * possible elements:
+     * - 'directory': The directory we should load metadata from. The default directory is
+     *                set in the 'metadatadir' configuration option in 'config.php'.
+     *
+     * @param array $config An associative array with the configuration for this handler.
+     */
+    protected function __construct(array $config)
+    {
+        // get the configuration
+        $globalConfig = Configuration::getInstance();
+
+        // find the path to the directory we should search for metadata in
+        if (array_key_exists('directory', $config)) {
+            $this->directory = $config['directory'] ?: 'metadata/';
+        } else {
+            $this->directory = $globalConfig->getString('metadatadir', 'metadata/');
+        }
+
+        /* Resolve this directory relative to the SimpleSAMLphp directory (unless it is
+         * an absolute path).
+         */
+
+        /** @var string $base */
+        $base = $globalConfig->resolvePath($this->directory);
+        $this->directory = $base . '/';
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * This function loads the given set of metadata from a file our metadata directory.
+     * This function returns null if it is unable to locate the given set in the metadata directory.
+     *
+     * @param string $set The set of metadata we are loading.
+     *
+     * @return array|null An associative array with the metadata,
+     *     or null if we are unable to load metadata from the given file.
+     * @throws \Exception If the metadata set cannot be loaded.
+     */
+    private function load(string $set): ?array
+    {
+        $metadatasetdir = $this->directory . $set . self::EXTENSION;
+
+        /** @psalm-var mixed $metadata   We cannot be sure what the include below will do with this var */
+        $metadata = [];
+
+        $dh = @opendir($metadatasetdir);
+        if ($dh === false) {
+            Logger::warning(
+                'Directory metadata handler: Unable to open directory: ' . var_export($metadatasetdir, true)
+            );
+            return $metadata;
+        }
+
+        while (($entry = readdir($dh)) !== false) {
+            if ($entry[0] === '.') {
+                // skip '..', '.' and hidden files
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            $path = $metadatasetdir.DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR . $entry;
+
+            if (is_dir($path)) {
+                Logger::warning(
+                    'Directory metadata handler: Metadata directory contained a directory where only files should ' .
+                    'exist: ' . var_export($path, true)
+                );
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            include($path);
+        }
+
+        closedir($dh);
+
+        if (!is_array($metadata)) {
+            throw new \Exception('Could not load metadata set [' . $set . '] from directory: ' . $metadatasetdir);
+        }
+
+        return $metadata;
+    }
+
+
+    /**
+     * This function retrieves the given set of metadata. It will return an empty array if it is
+     * unable to locate it.
+     *
+     * @param string $set The set of metadata we are retrieving.
+     *
+     * @return array An associative array with the metadata. Each element in the array is an entity, and the
+     *         key is the entity id.
+     */
+    public function getMetadataSet(string $set): array
+    {
+        if (array_key_exists($set, $this->cachedMetadata)) {
+            return $this->cachedMetadata[$set];
+        }
+
+        $metadataSet = $this->load($set);
+        if ($metadataSet === null) {
+            $metadataSet = [];
+        }
+
+        // add the entity id of an entry to each entry in the metadata
+        foreach ($metadataSet as $entityId => &$entry) {
+            $entry = $this->updateEntityID($set, $entityId, $entry);
+        }
+
+        $this->cachedMetadata[$set] = $metadataSet;
+        return $metadataSet;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageSource.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageSource.php
index 875a488ccc..4ccdc06572 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageSource.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageSource.php
@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@ public static function getSource(array $sourceConfig): MetaDataStorageSource
                 return new MetaDataStorageHandlerXML($sourceConfig);
             case 'serialize':
                 return new MetaDataStorageHandlerSerialize($sourceConfig);
+            case 'directory':
+                return new MetaDataStorageHandlerDirectoryOfFiles($sourceConfig);
             case 'mdx':
             case 'mdq':
                 return new Sources\MDQ($sourceConfig);
diff --git a/tests/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageHandlerTest.php b/tests/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageHandlerTest.php
index 47e837ce4c..1ab0eb5310 100644
--- a/tests/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageHandlerTest.php
+++ b/tests/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/MetaDataStorageHandlerTest.php
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ public function testLoadEntities()
             'metadata.sources' => [
                 ['type' => 'flatfile', 'directory' => __DIR__ . '/test-metadata/source1'],
                 ['type' => 'serialize', 'directory' => __DIR__ . '/test-metadata/source2'],
+                ['type' => 'directory', 'directory' => __DIR__ . '/test-metadata/source3'],
             ],
         ];
         Configuration::loadFromArray($c, '', 'simplesaml');
@@ -28,13 +29,15 @@ public function testLoadEntities()
         $entities = $handler->getMetaDataForEntities([
             'entityA',
             'entityB',
+            'entityC',
             'nosuchEntity',
             'entityInBoth',
             'expiredInSrc1InSrc2'
         ], 'saml20-sp-remote');
-        $this->assertCount(4, $entities);
+        $this->assertCount(5, $entities);
         $this->assertEquals('entityA SP from source1', $entities['entityA']['name']['en']);
         $this->assertEquals('entityB SP from source2', $entities['entityB']['name']['en']);
+        $this->assertEquals('entityC SP from source3', $entities['entityC']['name']['en']);
         $this->assertEquals(
             'entityInBoth SP from source1',
             $entities['entityInBoth']['name']['en'],
diff --git a/tests/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/test-metadata/source3/saml20-sp-remote.d/entityC.php b/tests/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/test-metadata/source3/saml20-sp-remote.d/entityC.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..aa94646ca9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/lib/SimpleSAML/Metadata/test-metadata/source3/saml20-sp-remote.d/entityC.php
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+<?php
+
+$metadata['entityC'] = [
+    'entityid' => 'entityC',
+    'name' =>
+        [
+            'en' => 'entityC SP from source3',
+        ],
+    'metadata-set' => 'saml20-sp-remote',
+    'AssertionConsumerService' =>
+        [
+            0 =>
+                [
+                    'Binding' => 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST',
+                    'Location' => 'https://entityC.example.org/Shibboleth.sso/SAML2/POST',
+                    'index' => 1,
+                    'isDefault' => true,
+                ],
+        ]
+];
+