diff --git a/Config.in b/Config.in
index 3db2c8dcab..f0cd6f48ed 100644
--- a/Config.in
+++ b/Config.in
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ config BR2_SCP
 	string "Secure copy (scp) command"
 	default "scp"
 
+config BR2_SFTP
+	string "Secure file transfer (sftp) command"
+	default "sftp"
+
 config BR2_HG
 	string "Mercurial (hg) command"
 	default "hg"
diff --git a/docs/manual/adding-packages-generic.txt b/docs/manual/adding-packages-generic.txt
index 2d8a1a71ce..1384466f9b 100644
--- a/docs/manual/adding-packages-generic.txt
+++ b/docs/manual/adding-packages-generic.txt
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ not and can not work as people would expect it should:
   +scp://[user@]host:filepath+, and that filepath is relative to the
   user's home directory, so you may want to prepend the path with a
   slash for absolute paths:
-  +scp://[user@]host:/absolutepath+. +
+  +scp://[user@]host:/absolutepath+. The same goes for SFTP URLs. +
   If +HOST_LIBFOO_SITE+ is not specified, it defaults to
   +LIBFOO_SITE+.
   Examples: +
@@ -291,6 +291,8 @@ not and can not work as people would expect it should:
      +ftp://+.
   ** +scp+ for downloads of tarballs over SSH with scp. Used by
      default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +scp://+.
+  ** +sftp+ for downloads of tarballs over SSH with sftp. Used by
+     default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +sftp://+.
   ** +svn+ for retrieving source code from a Subversion repository.
      Used by default when +LIBFOO_SITE+ begins with +svn://+. When a
      +http://+ Subversion repository URL is specified in
diff --git a/docs/manual/prerequisite.txt b/docs/manual/prerequisite.txt
index 4e614cfa1b..40071491f8 100644
--- a/docs/manual/prerequisite.txt
+++ b/docs/manual/prerequisite.txt
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ corresponding tool on the host system:
 ** +mercurial+
 ** +rsync+
 ** +scp+
+** +sftp+
 ** +subversion+
 
 * Java-related packages, if the Java Classpath needs to be built for
diff --git a/package/pkg-download.mk b/package/pkg-download.mk
index 2527ba5c60..5c2bdfdb23 100644
--- a/package/pkg-download.mk
+++ b/package/pkg-download.mk
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ export BZR := $(call qstrip,$(BR2_BZR))
 export GIT := $(call qstrip,$(BR2_GIT))
 export HG := $(call qstrip,$(BR2_HG))
 export SCP := $(call qstrip,$(BR2_SCP))
+export SFTP := $(call qstrip,$(BR2_SFTP))
 export LOCALFILES := $(call qstrip,$(BR2_LOCALFILES))
 
 # Version of the format of the archives we generate in the corresponding
diff --git a/support/download/dl-wrapper b/support/download/dl-wrapper
index 3315bd410e..6cf0b89cba 100755
--- a/support/download/dl-wrapper
+++ b/support/download/dl-wrapper
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ main() {
         backend_urlencode="${uri%%+*}"
         backend="${backend_urlencode%|*}"
         case "${backend}" in
-            git|svn|cvs|bzr|file|scp|hg) ;;
+            git|svn|cvs|bzr|file|scp|hg|sftp) ;;
             *) backend="wget" ;;
         esac
         uri=${uri#*+}
diff --git a/support/download/sftp b/support/download/sftp
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..0a44be7e61
--- /dev/null
+++ b/support/download/sftp
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# We want to catch any unexpected failure, and exit immediately
+set -e
+
+# Download helper for sftp, to be called from the download wrapper script
+#
+# Options:
+#   -q          Be quiet.
+#   -o FILE     Copy to local file FILE.
+#   -f FILE     Copy from remote file FILE.
+#   -u URI      Download file at URI.
+#
+# Environment:
+#   SFTP      : the sftp command to call
+
+quiet=
+while getopts "${BR_BACKEND_DL_GETOPTS}" OPT; do
+    case "${OPT}" in
+    q)  quiet=-q;;
+    o)  output="${OPTARG}";;
+    f)  filename="${OPTARG}";;
+    u)  uri="${OPTARG}";;
+    :)  printf "option '%s' expects a mandatory argument\n" "${OPTARG}"; exit 1;;
+    \?) printf "unknown option '%s'\n" "${OPTARG}" >&2; exit 1;;
+    esac
+done
+
+shift $((OPTIND-1)) # Get rid of our options
+
+# Caller needs to single-quote its arguments to prevent them from
+# being expanded a second time (in case there are spaces in them)
+_sftp() {
+    if [ -z "${quiet}" ]; then
+        printf '%s ' ${SFTP} "${@}"; printf '\n'
+    fi
+    # Note: please keep command below aligned with what is printed above
+    eval ${SFTP} "${@}"
+}
+
+_sftp ${quiet} "${@}" "'${uri}/${filename}'" "'${output}'"