diff --git a/cmd/nfsmount/nfsmount_test.go b/cmd/nfsmount/nfsmount_test.go
index ba6f350dc..a8402e901 100644
--- a/cmd/nfsmount/nfsmount_test.go
+++ b/cmd/nfsmount/nfsmount_test.go
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/rclone/rclone/cmd/serve/nfs"
+	"github.com/rclone/rclone/fs/object"
+	"github.com/rclone/rclone/vfs"
 	"github.com/rclone/rclone/vfs/vfscommon"
 	"github.com/rclone/rclone/vfs/vfstest"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -38,7 +40,7 @@ func TestMount(t *testing.T) {
 			nfs.Opt.HandleCacheDir = t.TempDir()
 			require.NoError(t, nfs.Opt.HandleCache.Set(cacheType))
 			// Check we can create a handler
-			_, err := nfs.NewHandler(context.Background(), nil, &nfs.Opt)
+			_, err := nfs.NewHandler(context.Background(), vfs.New(object.MemoryFs, nil), &nfs.Opt)
 			if errors.Is(err, nfs.ErrorSymlinkCacheNotSupported) || errors.Is(err, nfs.ErrorSymlinkCacheNoPermission) {
 				t.Skip(err.Error() + ": run with: go test -c && sudo setcap cap_dac_read_search+ep ./nfsmount.test && ./nfsmount.test -test.v")
 			}
diff --git a/cmd/serve/nfs/cache.go b/cmd/serve/nfs/cache.go
index 32c6cc16c..278d923dc 100644
--- a/cmd/serve/nfs/cache.go
+++ b/cmd/serve/nfs/cache.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 package nfs
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
 	"crypto/md5"
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"errors"
@@ -30,6 +31,15 @@ var (
 	ErrorSymlinkCacheNoPermission = errors.New("symlink cache must be run as root or with CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH")
 )
 
+// Metadata files have the file handle of their source file with this
+// suffixed so we can look them up directly from the file handle.
+//
+// Note that this is 4 bytes - using a non multiple of 4 will cause
+// the Linux NFS client not to be able to read any files.
+//
+// The value is big endian 0x00000001
+var metadataSuffix = []byte{0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01}
+
 // Cache controls the file handle cache implementation
 type Cache interface {
 	// ToHandle takes a file and represents it with an opaque handle to reference it.
@@ -77,7 +87,9 @@ type diskHandler struct {
 	write      func(fh []byte, cachePath string, fullPath string) ([]byte, error)
 	read       func(fh []byte, cachePath string) ([]byte, error)
 	remove     func(fh []byte, cachePath string) error
-	handleType int32 //nolint:unused // used by the symlink cache
+	suffix     func(fh []byte) []byte // returns nil for no suffix or the suffix
+	handleType int32                  //nolint:unused // used by the symlink cache
+	metadata   string                 // extension for metadata
 }
 
 // Create a new disk handler
@@ -102,6 +114,8 @@ func newDiskHandler(h *Handler) (dh *diskHandler, err error) {
 		write:    dh.diskCacheWrite,
 		read:     dh.diskCacheRead,
 		remove:   dh.diskCacheRemove,
+		suffix:   dh.diskCacheSuffix,
+		metadata: h.vfs.Opt.MetadataExtension,
 	}
 	fs.Infof("nfs", "Storing handle cache in %q", dh.cacheDir)
 	return dh, nil
@@ -124,6 +138,17 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) handleToPath(fh []byte) (cachePath string) {
 	return cachePath
 }
 
+// Return true if name represents a metadata file
+//
+// It returns the underlying path
+func (dh *diskHandler) isMetadataFile(name string) (rawName string, found bool) {
+	if dh.metadata == "" {
+		return name, false
+	}
+	rawName, found = strings.CutSuffix(name, dh.metadata)
+	return rawName, found
+}
+
 // ToHandle takes a file and represents it with an opaque handle to reference it.
 // In stateless nfs (when it's serving a unix fs) this can be the device + inode
 // but we can generalize with a stateful local cache of handed out IDs.
@@ -131,6 +156,8 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) ToHandle(f billy.Filesystem, splitPath []string) (fh []by
 	dh.mu.Lock()
 	defer dh.mu.Unlock()
 	fullPath := path.Join(splitPath...)
+	// metadata file has file handle of original file
+	fullPath, isMetadataFile := dh.isMetadataFile(fullPath)
 	fh = hashPath(fullPath)
 	cachePath := dh.handleToPath(fh)
 	cacheDir := filepath.Dir(cachePath)
@@ -144,6 +171,10 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) ToHandle(f billy.Filesystem, splitPath []string) (fh []by
 		fs.Errorf("nfs", "Couldn't create cache file handle: %v", err)
 		return fh
 	}
+	// metadata file handle is suffixed with metadataSuffix
+	if isMetadataFile {
+		fh = append(fh, metadataSuffix...)
+	}
 	return fh
 }
 
@@ -152,18 +183,43 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) diskCacheWrite(fh []byte, cachePath string, fullPath stri
 	return fh, os.WriteFile(cachePath, []byte(fullPath), 0600)
 }
 
-var errStaleHandle = &nfs.NFSStatusError{NFSStatus: nfs.NFSStatusStale}
+var (
+	errStaleHandle = &nfs.NFSStatusError{NFSStatus: nfs.NFSStatusStale}
+)
+
+// Test to see if a fh is a metadata handle and if so return the underlying handle
+func (dh *diskHandler) isMetadataHandle(fh []byte) (isMetadata bool, newFh []byte, err error) {
+	if dh.metadata == "" {
+		return false, fh, nil
+	}
+	suffix := dh.suffix(fh)
+	if len(suffix) == 0 {
+		// OK
+		return false, fh, nil
+	} else if bytes.Equal(suffix, metadataSuffix) {
+		return true, fh[:len(fh)-len(suffix)], nil
+	}
+	fs.Errorf("nfs", "Bad file handle suffix %X", suffix)
+	return false, nil, errStaleHandle
+}
 
 // FromHandle converts from an opaque handle to the file it represents
 func (dh *diskHandler) FromHandle(fh []byte) (f billy.Filesystem, splitPath []string, err error) {
 	dh.mu.RLock()
 	defer dh.mu.RUnlock()
+	isMetadata, fh, err := dh.isMetadataHandle(fh)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, nil, err
+	}
 	cachePath := dh.handleToPath(fh)
 	fullPathBytes, err := dh.read(fh, cachePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		fs.Errorf("nfs", "Stale handle %q: %v", cachePath, err)
 		return nil, nil, errStaleHandle
 	}
+	if isMetadata {
+		fullPathBytes = append(fullPathBytes, []byte(dh.metadata)...)
+	}
 	splitPath = strings.Split(string(fullPathBytes), "/")
 	return dh.billyFS, splitPath, nil
 }
@@ -177,8 +233,16 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) diskCacheRead(fh []byte, cachePath string) ([]byte, error
 func (dh *diskHandler) InvalidateHandle(f billy.Filesystem, fh []byte) error {
 	dh.mu.Lock()
 	defer dh.mu.Unlock()
+	isMetadata, fh, err := dh.isMetadataHandle(fh)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if isMetadata {
+		// Can't invalidate a metadata handle as it is synthetic
+		return nil
+	}
 	cachePath := dh.handleToPath(fh)
-	err := dh.remove(fh, cachePath)
+	err = dh.remove(fh, cachePath)
 	if err != nil {
 		fs.Errorf("nfs", "Failed to remove handle %q: %v", cachePath, err)
 	}
@@ -190,6 +254,14 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) diskCacheRemove(fh []byte, cachePath string) error {
 	return os.Remove(cachePath)
 }
 
+// Return a suffix for the file handle or nil
+func (dh *diskHandler) diskCacheSuffix(fh []byte) []byte {
+	if len(fh) <= md5.Size {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return fh[md5.Size:]
+}
+
 // HandleLimit exports how many file handles can be safely stored by this cache.
 func (dh *diskHandler) HandleLimit() int {
 	return math.MaxInt
diff --git a/cmd/serve/nfs/cache_test.go b/cmd/serve/nfs/cache_test.go
index 03100d34d..6941fde17 100644
--- a/cmd/serve/nfs/cache_test.go
+++ b/cmd/serve/nfs/cache_test.go
@@ -5,10 +5,13 @@ package nfs
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/rclone/rclone/fs"
+	"github.com/rclone/rclone/fs/object"
+	"github.com/rclone/rclone/vfs"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
@@ -18,6 +21,8 @@ const testSymlinkCache = "go test -c && sudo setcap cap_dac_read_search+ep ./nfs
 
 // Check basic CRUD operations
 func testCacheCRUD(t *testing.T, h *Handler, c Cache, fileName string) {
+	isMetadata := strings.HasSuffix(fileName, ".metadata")
+
 	// Check reading a non existent handle returns an error
 	_, _, err := c.FromHandle([]byte{10})
 	assert.Error(t, err)
@@ -26,6 +31,11 @@ func testCacheCRUD(t *testing.T, h *Handler, c Cache, fileName string) {
 	splitPath := []string{"dir", fileName}
 	fh := c.ToHandle(h.billyFS, splitPath)
 	assert.True(t, len(fh) > 0)
+	if isMetadata {
+		assert.Equal(t, metadataSuffix, fh[len(fh)-len(metadataSuffix):])
+	} else {
+		assert.NotEqual(t, metadataSuffix, fh[len(fh)-len(metadataSuffix):])
+	}
 
 	// Read the handle back
 	newFs, newSplitPath, err := c.FromHandle(fh)
@@ -43,8 +53,13 @@ func testCacheCRUD(t *testing.T, h *Handler, c Cache, fileName string) {
 
 	// Check the handle is gone and returning stale handle error
 	_, _, err = c.FromHandle(fh)
-	require.Error(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, errStaleHandle, err)
+	if !isMetadata {
+		require.Error(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, errStaleHandle, err)
+	} else {
+		// Can't invalidate metadata handles
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+	}
 }
 
 // Thrash the cache operations in parallel on different files
@@ -113,8 +128,10 @@ func TestCache(t *testing.T) {
 		cacheType := cacheType
 		t.Run(cacheType.String(), func(t *testing.T) {
 			h := &Handler{
+				vfs:     vfs.New(object.MemoryFs, nil),
 				billyFS: billyFS,
 			}
+			h.vfs.Opt.MetadataExtension = ".metadata"
 			h.opt.HandleLimit = 1000
 			h.opt.HandleCache = cacheType
 			h.opt.HandleCacheDir = t.TempDir()
@@ -151,6 +168,10 @@ func TestCache(t *testing.T) {
 				t.Run("ThrashSame", func(t *testing.T) {
 					testCacheThrashSame(t, h, c)
 				})
+				// Metadata file handles only supported on non memory
+				t.Run("CRUDMetadata", func(t *testing.T) {
+					testCacheCRUD(t, h, c, "file.metadata")
+				})
 			}
 		})
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/serve/nfs/nfs.go b/cmd/serve/nfs/nfs.go
index ad94c5a49..6e6878e3c 100644
--- a/cmd/serve/nfs/nfs.go
+++ b/cmd/serve/nfs/nfs.go
@@ -169,6 +169,12 @@ Where |$PORT| is the same port number used in the |serve nfs| command
 and |$HOSTNAME| is the network address of the machine that |serve nfs|
 was run on.
 
+If |--vfs-metadata-extension| is in use then for the |--nfs-cache-type disk|
+and |--nfs-cache-type cache| the metadata files will have the file
+handle of their parent file suffixed with |0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x01|.
+This means they can be looked up directly from the parent file handle
+is desired.
+
 This command is only available on Unix platforms.
 
 `, "|", "`") + vfs.Help(),
diff --git a/cmd/serve/nfs/symlink_cache_linux.go b/cmd/serve/nfs/symlink_cache_linux.go
index 8002824ff..806de6685 100644
--- a/cmd/serve/nfs/symlink_cache_linux.go
+++ b/cmd/serve/nfs/symlink_cache_linux.go
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) makeSymlinkCache() error {
 	dh.read = dh.symlinkCacheRead
 	dh.write = dh.symlinkCacheWrite
 	dh.remove = dh.symlinkCacheRemove
+	dh.suffix = dh.symlinkCacheSuffix
 
 	return nil
 }
@@ -208,3 +209,15 @@ func (dh *diskHandler) symlinkCacheRemove(fh []byte, cachePath string) error {
 
 	return os.Remove(cachePath)
 }
+
+// Return a suffix for the file handle or nil
+func (dh *diskHandler) symlinkCacheSuffix(fh []byte) []byte {
+	if len(fh) < 4 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	length := int(binary.BigEndian.Uint32(fh[:4])) + 4
+	if len(fh) <= length {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return fh[length:]
+}