diff --git a/tools/sftest.cc b/tools/sftest.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6e019b166c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/sftest.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+/* g++ -o sftest sftest.cc `pkg-config --cflags --libs sndfile` `pkg-config --cflags --libs glibmm-2.4` */
+
+#include <vector>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <iomanip>
+#include <sstream>
+#include <cstdlib>
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <sndfile.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <getopt.h>
+
+#include <glibmm/miscutils.h>
+
+using namespace std;
+
+SF_INFO format_info;
+float* data = 0;
+bool with_sync = false;
+
+int
+write_one (SNDFILE* sf, uint32_t nframes)
+{
+	if (sf_write_float (sf, (float*) data, nframes) != nframes) {
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	if (with_sync) {
+		sf_write_sync (sf);
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+void
+usage ()
+{
+	cout << "sftest [ -f HEADER-FORMAT ] [ -F DATA-FORMAT ] [ -r SAMPLERATE ] [ -n NFILES ] [ -b BLOCKSIZE ] [ -s ]" << endl;
+	cout << "\tHEADER-FORMAT is one of:" << endl
+	     << "\t\tWAV" << endl
+	     << "\t\tCAF" << endl
+	     << "\t\tW64" << endl;
+	cout << "\tDATA-FORMAT is one of:" << endl
+	     << "\t\tFLOAT" << endl
+	     << "\t\t32" << endl
+	     << "\t\t24" << endl
+	     << "\t\t16" << endl;
+}
+
+int
+main (int argc, char* argv[])
+{
+	vector<SNDFILE*> sndfiles;
+	uint32_t sample_size;
+	char optstring[] = "f:r:F:n:c:b:s";
+	int channels, samplerate;
+	char const *suffix = ".wav";
+	char const *header_format = "wav";
+	char const *data_format = "float";
+	uint32_t block_size = 64 * 1024;
+	uint32_t nfiles = 100;
+	const struct option longopts[] = {
+		{ "header-format", 1, 0, 'f' },
+		{ "data-format", 1, 0, 'F' },
+		{ "rate", 1, 0, 'r' },
+		{ "nfiles", 1, 0, 'n' },
+		{ "blocksize", 1, 0, 'b' },
+		{ "channels", 1, 0, 'c' },
+		{ "sync", 0, 0, 's' },
+		{ 0, 0, 0, 0 }
+	};
+
+	int option_index = 0;
+	int c = 0;
+	
+	while (1) {
+		if ((c = getopt_long (argc, argv, optstring, longopts, &option_index)) == -1) {
+			break;
+		}
+
+		switch (c) {
+		case 'f':
+			header_format = optarg;
+			break;
+
+		case 'F':
+			data_format = optarg;
+			break;
+
+		case 'r':
+			samplerate = atoi (optarg);
+			break;
+
+		case 'n':
+			nfiles = atoi (optarg);
+			break;
+
+		case 'c':
+			channels = atoi (optarg);
+
+		case 'b':
+			block_size = atoi (optarg);
+			break;
+		case 's':
+			with_sync = true;
+			break;
+
+		default:
+			usage ();
+			return 0;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/* setup file format */
+	memset (&format_info, 0, sizeof (format_info));
+
+	if (samplerate == 0 || nfiles == 0 || block_size == 0 || channels == 0) {
+		usage ();
+		return 1;
+	}
+
+	format_info.samplerate = samplerate;
+	format_info.channels = channels;
+	
+	if (strcasecmp (header_format, "wav") == 0) {
+		format_info.format |= SF_FORMAT_WAV;
+		suffix = ".wav";
+	} else if (strcasecmp (header_format, "caf") == 0) {
+		format_info.format |= SF_FORMAT_CAF;
+		suffix = ".caf";
+	} else if (strcasecmp (header_format, "w64") == 0) {
+		format_info.format |= SF_FORMAT_W64;
+		suffix = ".w64";
+	} else {
+		usage ();
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	if (strcasecmp (data_format, "float") == 0) {
+		format_info.format |= SF_FORMAT_FLOAT;
+		sample_size = sizeof (float);
+	} else if (strcasecmp (data_format, "32") == 0) {
+		format_info.format |= SF_FORMAT_PCM_32;
+		sample_size = 4;
+	} else if (strcasecmp (data_format, "24") == 0) {
+		format_info.format |= SF_FORMAT_PCM_24;
+		sample_size = 3;
+	} else if (strcasecmp (data_format, "16") == 0) {
+		format_info.format |= SF_FORMAT_PCM_16;
+		sample_size = 2;
+	} else {
+		usage ();
+		return 0;
+	}
+	
+	char tmpdirname[] = "sftest-XXXXXX";
+	g_mkdtemp (tmpdirname);
+
+	for (uint32_t n = 0; n < nfiles; ++n) {
+		SNDFILE* sf;
+		string path;
+		stringstream ss;
+
+		ss << "sf-";
+		ss << n;
+		ss << suffix;
+		
+		path = Glib::build_filename (tmpdirname, ss.str());
+		
+		if ((sf = sf_open (path.c_str(), SFM_RDWR, &format_info)) == 0) {
+			cerr << "Could not open file #" << n << " @ " << path << endl;
+			return 1;
+		}
+
+		sndfiles.push_back (sf);
+	}
+
+	cout << nfiles << " files are in " << tmpdirname << endl;
+	cout << "Format is " << suffix << ' ' << channels << " channel" << (channels > 1 ? "s" : "") << " written in chunks of " << block_size << " frames, synced ? " << (with_sync ? "yes" : "no") << endl;
+		
+	data = new float[block_size*channels];
+	uint64_t written = 0;
+	
+	while (true) {
+		gint64 before;
+		before = g_get_monotonic_time();
+		for (vector<SNDFILE*>::iterator s = sndfiles.begin(); s != sndfiles.end(); ++s) {
+			if (write_one (*s, block_size)) {
+				cerr << "Write failed for file #" << distance (sndfiles.begin(), s) << endl;
+				return 1;
+			}
+		}
+		written += block_size;
+		gint64 elapsed = g_get_monotonic_time() - before;
+		double bandwidth = (sndfiles.size() * block_size * channels * sample_size) / (elapsed/1000000.0);
+		double data_minutes = written / (double) (60.0 * 48000.0);
+		const double data_rate = sndfiles.size() * channels * sample_size * samplerate;
+		stringstream ds;
+		ds << setprecision (1) << data_minutes;
+		
+		cout << "BW @ " << written << " frames (" << ds.str() << " minutes) = " << (bandwidth/1048576.0) <<  " MB/sec " << bandwidth / data_rate << " x faster than necessary " << endl;
+
+		usleep(1e6 * 1024 / samplerate);
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+