diff --git a/read-cache.c b/read-cache.c
index b203eebb44..880f627b4c 100644
--- a/read-cache.c
+++ b/read-cache.c
@@ -1942,20 +1942,212 @@ static void *load_index_extensions(void *_data)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+/*
+ * A helper function that will load the specified range of cache entries
+ * from the memory mapped file and add them to the given index.
+ */
+static unsigned long load_cache_entry_block(struct index_state *istate,
+			struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool, int offset, int nr, void *mmap,
+			unsigned long start_offset, struct strbuf *previous_name)
+{
+	int i;
+	unsigned long src_offset = start_offset;
+
+	for (i = offset; i < offset + nr; i++) {
+		struct ondisk_cache_entry *disk_ce;
+		struct cache_entry *ce;
+		unsigned long consumed;
+
+		disk_ce = (struct ondisk_cache_entry *)((char *)mmap + src_offset);
+		ce = create_from_disk(ce_mem_pool, disk_ce, &consumed, previous_name);
+		set_index_entry(istate, i, ce);
+
+		src_offset += consumed;
+	}
+	return src_offset - start_offset;
+}
+
+static unsigned long load_all_cache_entries(struct index_state *istate,
+			void *mmap, size_t mmap_size, unsigned long src_offset)
+{
+	struct strbuf previous_name_buf = STRBUF_INIT, *previous_name;
+	unsigned long consumed;
+
+	if (istate->version == 4) {
+		previous_name = &previous_name_buf;
+		mem_pool_init(&istate->ce_mem_pool,
+				estimate_cache_size_from_compressed(istate->cache_nr));
+	} else {
+		previous_name = NULL;
+		mem_pool_init(&istate->ce_mem_pool,
+				estimate_cache_size(mmap_size, istate->cache_nr));
+	}
+
+	consumed = load_cache_entry_block(istate, istate->ce_mem_pool,
+					0, istate->cache_nr, mmap, src_offset, previous_name);
+	strbuf_release(&previous_name_buf);
+	return consumed;
+}
+
+#ifndef NO_PTHREADS
+
+/*
+ * Mostly randomly chosen maximum thread counts: we
+ * cap the parallelism to online_cpus() threads, and we want
+ * to have at least 10000 cache entries per thread for it to
+ * be worth starting a thread.
+ */
+#define THREAD_COST		(10000)
+
+struct load_cache_entries_thread_data
+{
+	pthread_t pthread;
+	struct index_state *istate;
+	struct mem_pool *ce_mem_pool;
+	int offset, nr;
+	void *mmap;
+	unsigned long start_offset;
+	struct strbuf previous_name_buf;
+	struct strbuf *previous_name;
+	unsigned long consumed;	/* return # of bytes in index file processed */
+};
+
+/*
+ * A thread proc to run the load_cache_entries() computation
+ * across multiple background threads.
+ */
+static void *load_cache_entries_thread(void *_data)
+{
+	struct load_cache_entries_thread_data *p = _data;
+
+	p->consumed += load_cache_entry_block(p->istate, p->ce_mem_pool,
+		p->offset, p->nr, p->mmap, p->start_offset, p->previous_name);
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+static unsigned long load_cache_entries_threaded(int nr_threads, struct index_state *istate,
+			void *mmap, size_t mmap_size, unsigned long src_offset)
+{
+	struct strbuf previous_name_buf = STRBUF_INIT, *previous_name;
+	struct load_cache_entries_thread_data *data;
+	int ce_per_thread;
+	unsigned long consumed;
+	int i, thread;
+
+	/* a little sanity checking */
+	if (istate->name_hash_initialized)
+		BUG("the name hash isn't thread safe");
+
+	mem_pool_init(&istate->ce_mem_pool, 0);
+	if (istate->version == 4)
+		previous_name = &previous_name_buf;
+	else
+		previous_name = NULL;
+
+	ce_per_thread = DIV_ROUND_UP(istate->cache_nr, nr_threads);
+	data = xcalloc(nr_threads, sizeof(struct load_cache_entries_thread_data));
+
+	/*
+	 * Loop through index entries starting a thread for every ce_per_thread
+	 * entries. Exit the loop when we've created the final thread (no need
+	 * to parse the remaining entries.
+	 */
+	consumed = thread = 0;
+	for (i = 0; ; i++) {
+		struct ondisk_cache_entry *ondisk;
+		const char *name;
+		unsigned int flags;
+
+		/*
+		 * we've reached the beginning of a block of cache entries,
+		 * kick off a thread to process them
+		 */
+		if (i % ce_per_thread == 0) {
+			struct load_cache_entries_thread_data *p = &data[thread];
+
+			p->istate = istate;
+			p->offset = i;
+			p->nr = ce_per_thread < istate->cache_nr - i ? ce_per_thread : istate->cache_nr - i;
+
+			/* create a mem_pool for each thread */
+			if (istate->version == 4)
+				mem_pool_init(&p->ce_mem_pool,
+					estimate_cache_size_from_compressed(p->nr));
+			else
+				mem_pool_init(&p->ce_mem_pool,
+					estimate_cache_size(mmap_size, p->nr));
+
+			p->mmap = mmap;
+			p->start_offset = src_offset;
+			if (previous_name) {
+				strbuf_addbuf(&p->previous_name_buf, previous_name);
+				p->previous_name = &p->previous_name_buf;
+			}
+
+			if (pthread_create(&p->pthread, NULL, load_cache_entries_thread, p))
+				die("unable to create load_cache_entries_thread");
+
+			/* exit the loop when we've created the last thread */
+			if (++thread == nr_threads)
+				break;
+		}
+
+		ondisk = (struct ondisk_cache_entry *)((char *)mmap + src_offset);
+
+		/* On-disk flags are just 16 bits */
+		flags = get_be16(&ondisk->flags);
+
+		if (flags & CE_EXTENDED) {
+			struct ondisk_cache_entry_extended *ondisk2;
+			ondisk2 = (struct ondisk_cache_entry_extended *)ondisk;
+			name = ondisk2->name;
+		} else
+			name = ondisk->name;
+
+		if (!previous_name) {
+			size_t len;
+
+			/* v3 and earlier */
+			len = flags & CE_NAMEMASK;
+			if (len == CE_NAMEMASK)
+				len = strlen(name);
+			src_offset += (flags & CE_EXTENDED) ?
+				ondisk_cache_entry_extended_size(len) :
+				ondisk_cache_entry_size(len);
+		} else
+			src_offset += (name - ((char *)ondisk)) + expand_name_field(previous_name, name);
+	}
+
+	for (i = 0; i < nr_threads; i++) {
+		struct load_cache_entries_thread_data *p = data + i;
+		if (pthread_join(p->pthread, NULL))
+			die("unable to join load_cache_entries_thread");
+		mem_pool_combine(istate->ce_mem_pool, p->ce_mem_pool);
+		strbuf_release(&p->previous_name_buf);
+		consumed += p->consumed;
+	}
+
+	free(data);
+	strbuf_release(&previous_name_buf);
+
+	return consumed;
+}
+
+#endif
+
 /* remember to discard_cache() before reading a different cache! */
 int do_read_index(struct index_state *istate, const char *path, int must_exist)
 {
-	int fd, i;
+	int fd;
 	struct stat st;
 	unsigned long src_offset;
 	struct cache_header *hdr;
 	void *mmap;
 	size_t mmap_size;
-	struct strbuf previous_name_buf = STRBUF_INIT, *previous_name;
 	struct load_index_extensions p = { 0 };
 	unsigned long extension_offset = 0;
 #ifndef NO_PTHREADS
-	int nr_threads;
+	int cpus, nr_threads;
 #endif
 
 	if (istate->initialized)
@@ -1997,10 +2189,20 @@ int do_read_index(struct index_state *istate, const char *path, int must_exist)
 	p.mmap = mmap;
 	p.mmap_size = mmap_size;
 
+	src_offset = sizeof(*hdr);
+
 #ifndef NO_PTHREADS
 	nr_threads = git_config_get_index_threads();
-	if (!nr_threads)
-		nr_threads = online_cpus();
+	if (!nr_threads) {
+		cpus = online_cpus();
+		nr_threads = istate->cache_nr / THREAD_COST;
+		if (nr_threads > cpus)
+			nr_threads = cpus;
+	}
+
+	/* enable testing with fewer than default minimum of entries */
+	if (istate->cache_nr > 1 && nr_threads < 3 && git_env_bool("GIT_TEST_INDEX_THREADS", 0))
+		nr_threads = 3;
 
 	if (nr_threads >= 2) {
 		extension_offset = read_eoie_extension(mmap, mmap_size);
@@ -2009,33 +2211,17 @@ int do_read_index(struct index_state *istate, const char *path, int must_exist)
 			p.src_offset = extension_offset;
 			if (pthread_create(&p.pthread, NULL, load_index_extensions, &p))
 				die(_("unable to create load_index_extensions_thread"));
+			nr_threads--;
 		}
 	}
+	if (nr_threads >= 2)
+		src_offset += load_cache_entries_threaded(nr_threads, istate, mmap, mmap_size, src_offset);
+	else
+		src_offset += load_all_cache_entries(istate, mmap, mmap_size, src_offset);
+#else
+	src_offset += load_all_cache_entries(istate, mmap, mmap_size, src_offset);
 #endif
 
-	if (istate->version == 4) {
-		previous_name = &previous_name_buf;
-		mem_pool_init(&istate->ce_mem_pool,
-			      estimate_cache_size_from_compressed(istate->cache_nr));
-	} else {
-		previous_name = NULL;
-		mem_pool_init(&istate->ce_mem_pool,
-			      estimate_cache_size(mmap_size, istate->cache_nr));
-	}
-
-	src_offset = sizeof(*hdr);
-	for (i = 0; i < istate->cache_nr; i++) {
-		struct ondisk_cache_entry *disk_ce;
-		struct cache_entry *ce;
-		unsigned long consumed;
-
-		disk_ce = (struct ondisk_cache_entry *)((char *)mmap + src_offset);
-		ce = create_from_disk(istate->ce_mem_pool, disk_ce, &consumed, previous_name);
-		set_index_entry(istate, i, ce);
-
-		src_offset += consumed;
-	}
-	strbuf_release(&previous_name_buf);
 	istate->timestamp.sec = st.st_mtime;
 	istate->timestamp.nsec = ST_MTIME_NSEC(st);
 
diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index d8754dd23a..69c695ad8e 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -324,6 +324,9 @@ This is used to allow tests 1, 4-9 in t1700-split-index.sh to succeed
 as they currently hard code SHA values for the index which are no longer
 valid due to the addition of the EOIE extension.
 
+GIT_TEST_INDEX_THREADS=<boolean> forces multi-threaded loading of
+the index cache entries and extensions for the whole test suite.
+
 Naming Tests
 ------------
 
