diff --git a/cmd/litestream/restore.go b/cmd/litestream/restore.go
index 79312cb..4fa78e7 100644
--- a/cmd/litestream/restore.go
+++ b/cmd/litestream/restore.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"os"
+	"strconv"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/benbjohnson/litestream"
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ func (c *RestoreCommand) Run(ctx context.Context, args []string) (err error) {
 	fs.StringVar(&opt.ReplicaName, "replica", "", "replica name")
 	fs.StringVar(&opt.Generation, "generation", "", "generation name")
 	fs.Var((*indexVar)(&opt.Index), "index", "wal index")
+	fs.IntVar(&opt.Parallelism, "parallelism", opt.Parallelism, "parallelism")
 	ifReplicaExists := fs.Bool("if-replica-exists", false, "")
 	timestampStr := fs.String("timestamp", "", "timestamp")
 	verbose := fs.Bool("v", false, "verbose output")
@@ -170,6 +172,10 @@ Arguments:
 	-if-replica-exists
 	    Returns exit code of 0 if no backups found.
 
+	-parallelism NUM
+	    Determines the number of WAL files downloaded in parallel.
+	    Defaults to `+strconv.Itoa(litestream.DefaultRestoreParallelism)+`.
+
 	-v
 	    Verbose output.
 
diff --git a/db.go b/db.go
index 2e2da6b..1fea632 100644
--- a/db.go
+++ b/db.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus/promauto"
+	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 )
 
 // Default DB settings.
@@ -1491,30 +1492,82 @@ func RestoreReplica(ctx context.Context, r Replica, opt RestoreOptions) (err err
 		return fmt.Errorf("cannot restore snapshot: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	// Restore each WAL file until we reach our maximum index.
+	// Fill input channel with all WAL indexes to be loaded in order.
+	ch := make(chan int, maxWALIndex-minWALIndex+1)
 	for index := minWALIndex; index <= maxWALIndex; index++ {
-		restoreStartTime := time.Now()
-		if err = restoreWAL(ctx, r, opt.Generation, index, tmpPath); os.IsNotExist(err) && index == minWALIndex && index == maxWALIndex {
-			logger.Printf("%s: no wal available, snapshot only", logPrefix)
-			break // snapshot file only, ignore error
-		} else if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("cannot restore wal: %w", err)
-		}
+		ch <- index
+	}
+	close(ch)
 
-		fi, err := os.Stat(tmpPath + "-wal")
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("cannot stat restored wal: %w", err)
-		}
+	// Track load state for each WAL.
+	var mu sync.Mutex
+	cond := sync.NewCond(&mu)
+	ready := make([]bool, maxWALIndex-minWALIndex+1)
 
-		applyStartTime := time.Now()
-		if err = applyWAL(ctx, tmpPath); err != nil {
+	parallelism := opt.Parallelism
+	if parallelism < 1 {
+		parallelism = 1
+	}
+
+	// Download WAL files to disk in parallel.
+	g, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
+	for i := 0; i < parallelism; i++ {
+		g.Go(func() error {
+			for {
+				select {
+				case <-ctx.Done():
+					cond.Broadcast()
+					return err
+				case index, ok := <-ch:
+					if !ok {
+						cond.Broadcast()
+						return nil
+					}
+
+					startTime := time.Now()
+					if err = downloadWAL(ctx, r, opt.Generation, index, tmpPath); os.IsNotExist(err) && index == minWALIndex && index == maxWALIndex {
+						logger.Printf("%s: no wal available, snapshot only", logPrefix)
+						continue // snapshot file only, ignore error
+					} else if err != nil {
+						cond.Broadcast()
+						return fmt.Errorf("cannot download wal %s/%08x: %w", opt.Generation, index, err)
+					}
+
+					// Mark index as ready-to-apply and notify applying code.
+					mu.Lock()
+					ready[index-minWALIndex] = true
+					mu.Unlock()
+					cond.Broadcast()
+
+					logger.Printf("%s: downloaded wal %s/%08x elapsed=%s",
+						logPrefix, opt.Generation, index,
+						time.Since(startTime).String(),
+					)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+
+	// Apply WAL files in order as they are ready.
+	for index := minWALIndex; index <= maxWALIndex; index++ {
+		// Wait until next WAL file is ready to apply.
+		mu.Lock()
+		for !ready[index-minWALIndex] {
+			if err := ctx.Err(); err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+			cond.Wait()
+		}
+		mu.Unlock()
+
+		// Apply WAL to database file.
+		startTime := time.Now()
+		if err = applyWAL(ctx, index, tmpPath); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("cannot apply wal: %w", err)
 		}
-		logger.Printf("%s: restored wal %s/%08x (sz=%d restore=%s apply=%s)",
+		logger.Printf("%s: applied wal %s/%08x elapsed=%s",
 			logPrefix, opt.Generation, index,
-			fi.Size(),
-			applyStartTime.Sub(restoreStartTime).String(),
-			time.Since(applyStartTime).String(),
+			time.Since(startTime).String(),
 		)
 	}
 
@@ -1636,8 +1689,10 @@ func restoreSnapshot(ctx context.Context, r Replica, generation string, index in
 	return f.Close()
 }
 
-// restoreWAL copies a WAL file from the replica to the local WAL and forces checkpoint.
-func restoreWAL(ctx context.Context, r Replica, generation string, index int, dbPath string) error {
+// downloadWAL copies a WAL file from the replica to a local copy next to the DB.
+// The WAL is later applied by applyWAL(). This function can be run in parallel
+// to download multiple WAL files simultaneously.
+func downloadWAL(ctx context.Context, r Replica, generation string, index int, dbPath string) error {
 	// Determine the user/group & mode based on the DB, if available.
 	uid, gid, mode := -1, -1, os.FileMode(0600)
 	if db := r.DB(); db != nil {
@@ -1652,7 +1707,7 @@ func restoreWAL(ctx context.Context, r Replica, generation string, index int, db
 	defer rd.Close()
 
 	// Open handle to destination WAL path.
-	f, err := createFile(dbPath+"-wal", mode, uid, gid)
+	f, err := createFile(fmt.Sprintf("%s-%08x-wal", dbPath, index), mode, uid, gid)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -1668,7 +1723,12 @@ func restoreWAL(ctx context.Context, r Replica, generation string, index int, db
 }
 
 // applyWAL performs a truncating checkpoint on the given database.
-func applyWAL(ctx context.Context, dbPath string) error {
+func applyWAL(ctx context.Context, index int, dbPath string) error {
+	// Copy WAL file from it's staging path to the correct "-wal" location.
+	if err := os.Rename(fmt.Sprintf("%s-%08x-wal", dbPath, index), dbPath+"-wal"); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	// Open SQLite database and force a truncating checkpoint.
 	d, err := sql.Open("sqlite3", dbPath)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -1732,6 +1792,9 @@ func (db *DB) CRC64(ctx context.Context) (uint64, Pos, error) {
 	return h.Sum64(), pos, nil
 }
 
+// DefaultRestoreParallelism is the default parallelism when downloading WAL files.
+const DefaultRestoreParallelism = 8
+
 // RestoreOptions represents options for DB.Restore().
 type RestoreOptions struct {
 	// Target path to restore into.
@@ -1754,6 +1817,9 @@ type RestoreOptions struct {
 	// If zero, database restore to most recent state available.
 	Timestamp time.Time
 
+	// Specifies how many WAL files are downloaded in parallel during restore.
+	Parallelism int
+
 	// Logging settings.
 	Logger  *log.Logger
 	Verbose bool
@@ -1762,7 +1828,8 @@ type RestoreOptions struct {
 // NewRestoreOptions returns a new instance of RestoreOptions with defaults.
 func NewRestoreOptions() RestoreOptions {
 	return RestoreOptions{
-		Index: math.MaxInt32,
+		Index:       math.MaxInt32,
+		Parallelism: DefaultRestoreParallelism,
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 90c25b7..8c21364 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/mattn/go-sqlite3 v1.14.5
 	github.com/pierrec/lz4/v4 v4.1.3
 	github.com/prometheus/client_golang v1.9.0
+	golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20210220032951-036812b2e83c // indirect
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20201214210602-f9fddec55a1e
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.4.0
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 3793bf7..9136fc2 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -316,6 +316,8 @@ golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20181221193216-37e7f081c4d4/go.mod h1:RxMgew5VJxzue5/jJ
 golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20190227155943-e225da77a7e6/go.mod h1:RxMgew5VJxzue5/jJTE5uejpjVlOe/izrB70Jof72aM=
 golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20190423024810-112230192c58/go.mod h1:RxMgew5VJxzue5/jJTE5uejpjVlOe/izrB70Jof72aM=
 golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20190911185100-cd5d95a43a6e/go.mod h1:RxMgew5VJxzue5/jJTE5uejpjVlOe/izrB70Jof72aM=
+golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20210220032951-036812b2e83c h1:5KslGYwFpkhGh+Q16bwMP3cOontH8FOep7tGV86Y7SQ=
+golang.org/x/sync v0.0.0-20210220032951-036812b2e83c/go.mod h1:RxMgew5VJxzue5/jJTE5uejpjVlOe/izrB70Jof72aM=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20180823144017-11551d06cbcc/go.mod h1:STP8DvDyc/dI5b8T5hshtkjS+E42TnysNCUPdjciGhY=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20180830151530-49385e6e1522/go.mod h1:STP8DvDyc/dI5b8T5hshtkjS+E42TnysNCUPdjciGhY=
 golang.org/x/sys v0.0.0-20180905080454-ebe1bf3edb33/go.mod h1:STP8DvDyc/dI5b8T5hshtkjS+E42TnysNCUPdjciGhY=