diff --git a/cmd/object-handlers.go b/cmd/object-handlers.go
index 99adf5689..ae2cbd2a7 100644
--- a/cmd/object-handlers.go
+++ b/cmd/object-handlers.go
@@ -2282,8 +2282,15 @@ func (api objectAPIHandlers) PutObjectExtractHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *h
 		}
 		return nil
 	}
+	var opts untarOptions
+	opts.ignoreDirs = strings.EqualFold(r.Header.Get(xhttp.MinIOSnowballIgnoreDirs), "true")
+	opts.ignoreErrs = strings.EqualFold(r.Header.Get(xhttp.MinIOSnowballIgnoreErrors), "true")
+	opts.prefixAll = r.Header.Get(xhttp.MinIOSnowballPrefix)
+	if opts.prefixAll != "" {
+		opts.prefixAll = trimLeadingSlash(pathJoin(opts.prefixAll, slashSeparator))
+	}
 
-	if err = untar(hreader, putObjectTar); err != nil {
+	if err = untar(ctx, hreader, putObjectTar, opts); err != nil {
 		apiErr := errorCodes.ToAPIErr(s3Err)
 		// If not set, convert or use BadRequest
 		if s3Err == ErrNone {
diff --git a/cmd/storage-rest-server.go b/cmd/storage-rest-server.go
index 74e69ab0a..9c33595e3 100644
--- a/cmd/storage-rest-server.go
+++ b/cmd/storage-rest-server.go
@@ -1052,6 +1052,13 @@ var poolBuf8k = sync.Pool{
 	},
 }
 
+var poolBuf128k = sync.Pool{
+	New: func() interface{} {
+		b := make([]byte, 128<<10)
+		return b
+	},
+}
+
 // waitForHTTPStream will wait for responses where
 // streamHTTPResponse has been used.
 // The returned reader contains the payload and must be closed if no error is returned.
diff --git a/cmd/untar.go b/cmd/untar.go
index dd489fb8b..3af5fbdb0 100644
--- a/cmd/untar.go
+++ b/cmd/untar.go
@@ -22,16 +22,20 @@ import (
 	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"io/fs"
 	"os"
 	"path"
 	"runtime"
+	"sync"
 
 	"github.com/cosnicolaou/pbzip2"
 	"github.com/klauspost/compress/s2"
 	"github.com/klauspost/compress/zstd"
 	gzip "github.com/klauspost/pgzip"
+	"github.com/minio/minio/internal/logger"
 	"github.com/pierrec/lz4"
 )
 
@@ -97,7 +101,36 @@ var magicHeaders = []struct {
 	},
 }
 
-func untar(r io.Reader, putObject func(reader io.Reader, info os.FileInfo, name string) error) error {
+type untarOptions struct {
+	ignoreDirs bool
+	ignoreErrs bool
+	prefixAll  string
+}
+
+// disconnectReader will ensure that no reads can take place on
+// the upstream reader after close has been called.
+type disconnectReader struct {
+	r  io.Reader
+	mu sync.Mutex
+}
+
+func (d *disconnectReader) Read(p []byte) (n int, err error) {
+	d.mu.Lock()
+	defer d.mu.Unlock()
+	if d.r != nil {
+		return d.r.Read(p)
+	}
+	return 0, errors.New("reader closed")
+}
+
+func (d *disconnectReader) Close() error {
+	d.mu.Lock()
+	d.r = nil
+	d.mu.Unlock()
+	return nil
+}
+
+func untar(ctx context.Context, r io.Reader, putObject func(reader io.Reader, info os.FileInfo, name string) error, o untarOptions) error {
 	bf := bufio.NewReader(r)
 	switch f := detect(bf); f {
 	case formatGzip:
@@ -117,7 +150,7 @@ func untar(r io.Reader, putObject func(reader io.Reader, info os.FileInfo, name
 		defer dec.Close()
 		r = dec
 	case formatBZ2:
-		ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
 		defer cancel()
 		r = pbzip2.NewReader(ctx, bf, pbzip2.DecompressionOptions(
 			pbzip2.BZConcurrency((runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)+1)/2),
@@ -131,17 +164,32 @@ func untar(r io.Reader, putObject func(reader io.Reader, info os.FileInfo, name
 	}
 	tarReader := tar.NewReader(r)
 	n := 0
-	for {
-		header, err := tarReader.Next()
+	asyncWriters := make(chan struct{}, 16)
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
 
+	var asyncErr error
+	var asyncErrMu sync.Mutex
+	for {
+		if !o.ignoreErrs {
+			asyncErrMu.Lock()
+			err := asyncErr
+			asyncErrMu.Unlock()
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+
+		header, err := tarReader.Next()
 		switch {
 
 		// if no more files are found return
 		case err == io.EOF:
-			return nil
+			wg.Wait()
+			return asyncErr
 
 		// return any other error
 		case err != nil:
+			wg.Wait()
 			extra := ""
 			if n > 0 {
 				extra = fmt.Sprintf(" after %d successful object(s)", n)
@@ -160,18 +208,66 @@ func untar(r io.Reader, putObject func(reader io.Reader, info os.FileInfo, name
 
 		switch header.Typeflag {
 		case tar.TypeDir: // = directory
-			if err := putObject(tarReader, header.FileInfo(), trimLeadingSlash(pathJoin(name, slashSeparator))); err != nil {
-				return err
+			if o.ignoreDirs {
+				continue
 			}
-			n++
+			name = trimLeadingSlash(pathJoin(name, slashSeparator))
 		case tar.TypeReg, tar.TypeChar, tar.TypeBlock, tar.TypeFifo, tar.TypeGNUSparse: // = regular
-			if err := putObject(tarReader, header.FileInfo(), trimLeadingSlash(path.Clean(name))); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-			n++
+			name = trimLeadingSlash(path.Clean(name))
 		default:
 			// ignore symlink'ed
 			continue
 		}
+		if o.prefixAll != "" {
+			name = pathJoin(o.prefixAll, name)
+		}
+
+		// Do small files async
+		n++
+		if header.Size <= smallFileThreshold {
+			asyncWriters <- struct{}{}
+			b := poolBuf128k.Get().([]byte)
+			if cap(b) < int(header.Size) {
+				b = make([]byte, smallFileThreshold)
+			}
+			b = b[:header.Size]
+			if _, err := io.ReadFull(tarReader, b); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			wg.Add(1)
+			go func(name string, fi fs.FileInfo, b []byte) {
+				rc := disconnectReader{r: bytes.NewReader(b)}
+				defer func() {
+					rc.Close()
+					<-asyncWriters
+					wg.Done()
+					poolBuf128k.Put(b)
+				}()
+				if err := putObject(&rc, fi, name); err != nil {
+					if o.ignoreErrs {
+						logger.LogIf(ctx, err)
+						return
+					}
+					asyncErrMu.Lock()
+					if asyncErr == nil {
+						asyncErr = err
+					}
+					asyncErrMu.Unlock()
+				}
+			}(name, header.FileInfo(), b)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Sync upload.
+		rc := disconnectReader{r: tarReader}
+		if err := putObject(&rc, header.FileInfo(), name); err != nil {
+			rc.Close()
+			if o.ignoreErrs {
+				logger.LogIf(ctx, err)
+				continue
+			}
+			return err
+		}
+		rc.Close()
 	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/http/headers.go b/internal/http/headers.go
index 5ce24d198..68b1f9a7a 100644
--- a/internal/http/headers.go
+++ b/internal/http/headers.go
@@ -91,6 +91,14 @@ const (
 	AmzBucketReplicationStatus    = "X-Amz-Replication-Status"
 	AmzSnowballExtract            = "X-Amz-Meta-Snowball-Auto-Extract"
 
+	// MinIOSnowballIgnoreDirs will skip creating empty directory objects.
+	MinIOSnowballIgnoreDirs = "X-Amz-Meta-Minio-Snowball-Ignore-Dirs"
+	// MinIOSnowballIgnoreErrors will ignore recoverable errors, typically single files failing to upload.
+	// An error will be printed to console instead.
+	MinIOSnowballIgnoreErrors = "X-Amz-Meta-Minio-Snowball-Ignore-Errors"
+	// MinIOSnowballPrefix will apply this prefix (plus / at end) to all extracted objects
+	MinIOSnowballPrefix = "X-Amz-Meta-Minio-Snowball-Prefix"
+
 	// Object lock enabled
 	AmzObjectLockEnabled = "x-amz-bucket-object-lock-enabled"