diff --git a/config.template.yaml b/config.template.yaml
index 78782b1c..f50e2a20 100644
--- a/config.template.yaml
+++ b/config.template.yaml
@@ -219,3 +219,13 @@ setuid:
   user: 'user'
 # how long to wait in ms before changing uid/gid
   timeout: 15
+
+# Determines channel data storage mechanism.
+# Defaults to 'file', in which channel data is JSON stringified and saved to a file
+# in the `chandump/` folder.  This is the legacy behavior of CyTube.
+# The other possible option is 'database', in which case each key-value pair of
+# channel data is stored as a row in the `channel_data` database table.
+# To migrate legacy chandump files to the database, shut down CyTube (to prevent
+# concurrent updates), then run `node lib/channel-storage/migrate.js`.
+channel-storage:
+  type: 'file'
diff --git a/src/channel-storage/channelstore.js b/src/channel-storage/channelstore.js
index 5d29e121..247565d3 100644
--- a/src/channel-storage/channelstore.js
+++ b/src/channel-storage/channelstore.js
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import { FileStore } from './filestore';
 import { DatabaseStore } from './dbstore';
+import Config from '../config';
 
-const CHANNEL_STORE = new FileStore();
+const CHANNEL_STORE = loadChannelStore();
 
 export function load(channelName) {
     return CHANNEL_STORE.load(channelName);
@@ -10,3 +11,13 @@ export function load(channelName) {
 export function save(channelName, data) {
     return CHANNEL_STORE.save(channelName, data);
 }
+
+function loadChannelStore() {
+    switch (Config.get('channel-storage.type')) {
+        case 'database':
+            return new DatabaseStore();
+        case 'file':
+        default:
+            return new FileStore();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index 8239b7fb..c1bed5a4 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ var defaults = {
         "user": "nobody",
         "timeout": 15
     },
+    "channel-storage": {
+        type: "file"
+    }
 };
 
 /**