diff --git a/src/tape/media_catalog_cache.rs b/src/tape/media_catalog_cache.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bf298e65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tape/media_catalog_cache.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+use std::path::Path;
+use std::io::{BufRead, BufReader};
+
+use anyhow::{format_err, bail, Error};
+
+use proxmox::tools::fs::CreateOptions;
+
+use crate::tape::{MediaCatalog, MediaId};
+
+/// Returns a list of (store, snapshot) for a given MediaId
+///
+/// To speedup things for large catalogs, we cache the list of
+/// snapshots into a separate file.
+pub fn media_catalog_snapshot_list(
+    base_path: &Path,
+    media_id: &MediaId,
+) -> Result<Vec<(String, String)>, Error> {
+
+    let uuid = &media_id.label.uuid;
+
+    let mut cache_path = base_path.to_owned();
+    cache_path.push(uuid.to_string());
+    let mut catalog_path = cache_path.clone();
+    cache_path.set_extension("index");
+    catalog_path.set_extension("log");
+
+    let stat = match nix::sys::stat::stat(&catalog_path) {
+        Ok(stat) => stat,
+        Err(err) => bail!("unable to stat media catalog {:?} - {}", catalog_path, err),
+    };
+
+    let cache_id = format!("{:016X}-{:016X}-{:016X}", stat.st_ino, stat.st_size as u64, stat.st_mtime as u64);
+
+    match std::fs::OpenOptions::new().read(true).open(&cache_path) {
+        Ok(file) => {
+            let mut list = Vec::new();
+            let file = BufReader::new(file);
+            let mut lines = file.lines();
+            match lines.next() {
+                Some(Ok(id)) => {
+                    if id != cache_id { // cache is outdated - rewrite
+                        return write_snapshot_cache(base_path, media_id, &cache_path, &cache_id);
+                    }
+                }
+                _ => bail!("unable to read catalog cache firstline {:?}", cache_path),
+            }
+
+            for line in lines {
+                let mut line = line?;
+
+                let idx = line
+                    .find(':')
+                    .ok_or_else(|| format_err!("invalid line format (no store found)"))?;
+
+                let snapshot = line.split_off(idx + 1);
+                line.truncate(idx);
+                list.push((line, snapshot));
+            }
+
+            Ok(list)
+        }
+        Err(err) if err.kind() == std::io::ErrorKind::NotFound => {
+            write_snapshot_cache(base_path, media_id, &cache_path, &cache_id)
+        }
+        Err(err) => bail!("unable to open catalog cache - {}", err),
+    }
+}
+
+fn write_snapshot_cache(
+    base_path: &Path,
+    media_id: &MediaId,
+    cache_path: &Path,
+    cache_id: &str,
+) ->  Result<Vec<(String, String)>, Error> {
+
+    // open normal catalog and write cache
+    let catalog = MediaCatalog::open(base_path, media_id, false, false)?;
+
+    let mut data = String::new();
+    data.push_str(cache_id);
+    data.push('\n');
+
+    let mut list = Vec::new();
+    for (store, content) in catalog.content() {
+        for snapshot in content.snapshot_index.keys() {
+            list.push((store.to_string(), snapshot.to_string()));
+            data.push_str(store);
+            data.push(':');
+            data.push_str(snapshot);
+            data.push('\n');
+        }
+    }
+
+    let backup_user = crate::backup::backup_user()?;
+    let mode = nix::sys::stat::Mode::from_bits_truncate(0o0640);
+    let options = CreateOptions::new()
+        .perm(mode)
+        .owner(backup_user.uid)
+        .group(backup_user.gid);
+
+    proxmox::tools::fs::replace_file(
+        cache_path,
+        data.as_bytes(),
+        options,
+    )?;
+
+    Ok(list)
+}
diff --git a/src/tape/mod.rs b/src/tape/mod.rs
index 8190e141..93c24719 100644
--- a/src/tape/mod.rs
+++ b/src/tape/mod.rs
@@ -42,6 +42,9 @@ pub use media_pool::*;
 mod media_catalog;
 pub use media_catalog::*;
 
+mod media_catalog_cache;
+pub use media_catalog_cache::*;
+
 mod pool_writer;
 pub use pool_writer::*;