diff --git a/approot/admin-database.xml b/approot/admin-database.xml
index 8b6a1173..d455b4fc 100644
--- a/approot/admin-database.xml
+++ b/approot/admin-database.xml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 						<div class="col-lg-9">
 							${media-directory}
 							${media-directory-info class="help-block"}
+							<span class="help-block">${tr:Lms.Admin.Database.path-help}</span>
 						</div>
 					</div>
 					<div class="form-group">
diff --git a/approot/messages.xml b/approot/messages.xml
index ee2a721c..06e52b7d 100644
--- a/approot/messages.xml
+++ b/approot/messages.xml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.menu-database"><i class="fa fa-fw fa-database" aria-hidden="true"></i> Music collection</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.never">Never</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.path">Media root directory</message>
+<message id="Lms.Admin.Database.path-help">Directories containing a <code>.lmsignore</code> file are skipped</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.recommendation-engine-type">Recommendation engine</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.recommendation-engine-type.clusters">Tags based</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.recommendation-engine-type.features">Audio analysis based</message>
diff --git a/approot/messages_fr.xml b/approot/messages_fr.xml
index 4e4c9af7..c8dbaeb6 100644
--- a/approot/messages_fr.xml
+++ b/approot/messages_fr.xml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.menu-database"><i class="fa fa-fw fa-database" aria-hidden="true"></i> Collection de musiques</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.never">Jamais</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.path">Dossier racine des fichiers de musique</message>
+<message id="Lms.Admin.Database.path-help">Les dossiers contenant un fichier <code>.lmsignore</code> sont ignorés</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.recommendation-engine-type">Moteur de recommandation</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.recommendation-engine-type.clusters">Basé sur les tags</message>
 <message id="Lms.Admin.Database.recommendation-engine-type.features">Basé sur l'analyse audio</message>
diff --git a/src/libs/scanner/impl/Scanner.cpp b/src/libs/scanner/impl/Scanner.cpp
index 064b5a4c..3a95b646 100644
--- a/src/libs/scanner/impl/Scanner.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/scanner/impl/Scanner.cpp
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ using namespace Database;
 
 namespace {
 
+const std::filesystem::path excludeDirFileName {".lmsignore"};
+
 Wt::WDate
 getNextMonday(Wt::WDate current)
 {
@@ -74,7 +76,7 @@ isFileSupported(const std::filesystem::path& file, const std::unordered_set<std:
 }
 
 bool
-isPathInParentPath(const std::filesystem::path& path, const std::filesystem::path& parentPath)
+isPathInMediaDirectory(const std::filesystem::path& path, const std::filesystem::path& rootPath)
 {
 	std::filesystem::path curPath = path;
 
@@ -82,7 +84,11 @@ isPathInParentPath(const std::filesystem::path& path, const std::filesystem::pat
 	{
 		curPath = curPath.parent_path();
 
-		if (curPath == parentPath)
+		std::error_code ec;
+		if (std::filesystem::exists(curPath / excludeDirFileName, ec))
+			return false;
+
+		if (curPath == rootPath)
 			return true;
 	}
 
@@ -434,7 +440,7 @@ Scanner::countAllFiles(ScanStats& stats)
 		}
 
 		return true;
-	});
+	}, excludeDirFileName);
 	notifyInProgress(stepStats);
 }
 
@@ -855,7 +861,7 @@ Scanner::scanMediaDirectory(const std::filesystem::path& mediaDirectory, bool fo
 		}
 
 		return true;
-	});
+	}, excludeDirFileName);
 
 	notifyInProgress(stepStats);
 }
@@ -875,7 +881,7 @@ checkFile(const std::filesystem::path& p, const std::filesystem::path& mediaDire
 			return false;
 		}
 
-		if (!isPathInParentPath(p, mediaDirectory))
+		if (!isPathInMediaDirectory(p, mediaDirectory))
 		{
 			LMS_LOG(DBUPDATER, INFO) << "Removing '" << p.string() << "': out of media directory";
 			return false;
diff --git a/src/libs/utils/impl/Path.cpp b/src/libs/utils/impl/Path.cpp
index a2297a37..029173a0 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/impl/Path.cpp
+++ b/src/libs/utils/impl/Path.cpp
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ getLastWriteTime(const std::filesystem::path& file)
 }
 
 bool
-exploreFilesRecursive(const std::filesystem::path& directory, std::function<bool(std::error_code, const std::filesystem::path&)> cb)
+exploreFilesRecursive(const std::filesystem::path& directory, std::function<bool(std::error_code, const std::filesystem::path&)> cb, const std::filesystem::path& excludeDirFileName)
 {
 	std::error_code ec;
 	std::filesystem::directory_iterator itPath {directory, std::filesystem::directory_options::follow_directory_symlink, ec};
@@ -90,6 +90,17 @@ exploreFilesRecursive(const std::filesystem::path& directory, std::function<bool
 		return true; // try to continue exploring anyway
 	}
 
+	if (!excludeDirFileName.empty())
+	{
+		const std::filesystem::path excludePath {directory / excludeDirFileName};
+
+		if (std::filesystem::exists(excludePath, ec))
+		{
+			LMS_LOG(DBUPDATER, DEBUG) << "Found '" << excludePath.string() << "': skipping directory";
+			return true;
+		}
+	}
+
 	std::filesystem::directory_iterator itEnd;
 	while (itPath != itEnd)
 	{
@@ -108,7 +119,7 @@ exploreFilesRecursive(const std::filesystem::path& directory, std::function<bool
 			else if (std::filesystem::is_directory(*itPath, ec))
 			{
 				if (!ec)
-					continueExploring = exploreFilesRecursive(*itPath, cb);
+					continueExploring = exploreFilesRecursive(*itPath, cb, excludeDirFileName);
 				else
 					continueExploring = cb(ec, *itPath);
 			}
diff --git a/src/libs/utils/include/utils/Path.hpp b/src/libs/utils/include/utils/Path.hpp
index 720afe78..b72e9cb4 100644
--- a/src/libs/utils/include/utils/Path.hpp
+++ b/src/libs/utils/include/utils/Path.hpp
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ bool ensureDirectory(const std::filesystem::path& dir);
 Wt::WDateTime getLastWriteTime(const std::filesystem::path& dir);
 
 // returns false if aborted by user
-bool exploreFilesRecursive(const std::filesystem::path& directory, std::function<bool(std::error_code, const std::filesystem::path&)> cb);
+bool exploreFilesRecursive(const std::filesystem::path& directory, std::function<bool(std::error_code, const std::filesystem::path&)> cb, const std::filesystem::path& excludeDirFileName = {});
 
 namespace std
 {