diff --git a/doc/userguide/configuration/suricata-yaml.rst b/doc/userguide/configuration/suricata-yaml.rst
index 5f6a525292..dad01109e9 100644
--- a/doc/userguide/configuration/suricata-yaml.rst
+++ b/doc/userguide/configuration/suricata-yaml.rst
@@ -2220,6 +2220,25 @@ unlimited.
         # Stream reassembly size for modbus, default is 0
         stream-depth: 0
 
+SMTP
+~~~~~~
+
+SMTP parsers can extract files from attachments.
+It is also possible to extract raw conversations as files with the
+key ``raw-extraction``. Note that in this case the whole conversation
+will be stored as a file, including SMTP headers and body content. The filename
+will be set to "rawmsg". Usual file-related signatures will match on the raw
+content of the email.
+This configuration parameter has a ``false`` default value. It is
+incompatible with ``decode-mime``. If both are enabled,
+``raw-extraction`` will be automatically disabled.
+
+::
+
+      smtp:
+        # extract messages in raw format from SMTP
+        raw-extraction: true
+
 Decoder
 -------
 
diff --git a/src/app-layer-smtp.c b/src/app-layer-smtp.c
index dd6659c44a..325f4de8fb 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-smtp.c
+++ b/src/app-layer-smtp.c
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@
 /* content-inspect-window default value */
 #define FILEDATA_CONTENT_INSPECT_WINDOW 4096
 
+/* raw extraction default value */
+#define SMTP_RAW_EXTRACTION_DEFAULT_VALUE 0
 #define SMTP_MAX_REQUEST_AND_REPLY_LINE_LENGTH 510
 
 #define SMTP_COMMAND_BUFFER_STEPS 5
@@ -231,7 +233,7 @@ SCEnumCharMap smtp_reply_map[ ] = {
 };
 
 /* Create SMTP config structure */
-SMTPConfig smtp_config = { 0, { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 }, 0, 0, 0, STREAMING_BUFFER_CONFIG_INITIALIZER};
+SMTPConfig smtp_config = { 0, { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 }, 0, 0, 0, 0, STREAMING_BUFFER_CONFIG_INITIALIZER};
 
 static SMTPString *SMTPStringAlloc(void);
 
@@ -327,6 +329,18 @@ static void SMTPConfigure(void) {
 
     smtp_config.sbcfg.buf_size = content_limit ? content_limit : 256;
 
+    if (ConfGetBool("app-layer.protocols.smtp.raw-extraction",
+            &smtp_config.raw_extraction) != 1) {
+        smtp_config.raw_extraction = SMTP_RAW_EXTRACTION_DEFAULT_VALUE;
+    }
+    if (smtp_config.raw_extraction && smtp_config.decode_mime) {
+        SCLogError(SC_ERR_CONF_YAML_ERROR,
+                "\"decode-mime\" and \"raw-extraction\" "
+                "options can't be enabled at the same time, "
+                "disabling raw extraction");
+        smtp_config.raw_extraction = 0;
+    }
+
     SCReturn;
 }
 
@@ -856,8 +870,11 @@ static int SMTPProcessCommandDATA(SMTPState *state, Flow *f,
          * the command buffer to be used by the reply handler to match
          * the reply received */
         SMTPInsertCommandIntoCommandBuffer(SMTP_COMMAND_DATA_MODE, state, f);
-
-        if (smtp_config.decode_mime && state->curr_tx->mime_state != NULL) {
+        if (smtp_config.raw_extraction) {
+            /* we use this as the signal that message data is complete. */
+            FileCloseFile(state->files_ts, NULL, 0, 0);
+        } else if (smtp_config.decode_mime &&
+                state->curr_tx->mime_state != NULL) {
             /* Complete parsing task */
             int ret = MimeDecParseComplete(state->curr_tx->mime_state);
             if (ret != MIME_DEC_OK) {
@@ -870,6 +887,11 @@ static int SMTPProcessCommandDATA(SMTPState *state, Flow *f,
         }
         state->curr_tx->done = 1;
         SCLogDebug("marked tx as done");
+    } else if (smtp_config.raw_extraction) {
+        // message not over, store the line. This is a substitution of
+        // ProcessDataChunk
+        FileAppendData(state->files_ts, state->current_line,
+                state->current_line_len+state->current_line_delimiter_len);
     }
 
     /* If DATA, then parse out a MIME message */
@@ -1167,7 +1189,29 @@ static int SMTPProcessRequest(SMTPState *state, Flow *f,
         } else if (state->current_line_len >= 4 &&
                    SCMemcmpLowercase("data", state->current_line, 4) == 0) {
             state->current_command = SMTP_COMMAND_DATA;
-            if (smtp_config.decode_mime) {
+            if (smtp_config.raw_extraction) {
+                const char *msgname = "rawmsg"; /* XXX have a better name */
+                if (state->files_ts == NULL)
+                    state->files_ts = FileContainerAlloc();
+                if (state->files_ts == NULL) {
+                    return -1;
+                }
+                if (state->tx_cnt > 1 && !state->curr_tx->done) {
+                    // we did not close the previous tx, set error
+                    SMTPSetEvent(state, SMTP_DECODER_EVENT_UNPARSABLE_CONTENT);
+                    FileCloseFile(state->files_ts, NULL, 0, FILE_TRUNCATED);
+                    tx = SMTPTransactionCreate();
+                    if (tx == NULL)
+                        return -1;
+                    state->curr_tx = tx;
+                    TAILQ_INSERT_TAIL(&state->tx_list, tx, next);
+                    tx->tx_id = state->tx_cnt++;
+                }
+                FileOpenFile(state->files_ts, &smtp_config.sbcfg,
+                        (uint8_t*) msgname, strlen(msgname), NULL, 0,
+                        FILE_NOMD5|FILE_NOMAGIC);
+                FlagDetectStateNewFile(state->curr_tx);
+            } else if (smtp_config.decode_mime) {
                 if (tx->mime_state) {
                     /* We have 2 chained mails and did not detect the end
                      * of first one. So we start a new transaction. */
diff --git a/src/app-layer-smtp.h b/src/app-layer-smtp.h
index 24098120e7..35dd72c2e3 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-smtp.h
+++ b/src/app-layer-smtp.h
@@ -100,6 +100,8 @@ typedef struct SMTPConfig {
     uint32_t content_inspect_min_size;
     uint32_t content_inspect_window;
 
+    int raw_extraction;
+
     StreamingBufferConfig sbcfg;
 } SMTPConfig;
 
diff --git a/suricata.yaml.in b/suricata.yaml.in
index 9f3b788520..61cc16898a 100644
--- a/suricata.yaml.in
+++ b/suricata.yaml.in
@@ -804,6 +804,7 @@ app-layer:
       enabled: yes
     smtp:
       enabled: yes
+      raw-extraction: no
       # Configure SMTP-MIME Decoder
       mime:
         # Decode MIME messages from SMTP transactions