diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0bf29d6..688efd7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Changelog
 
+### unreleased
+- New: Files are now uploaded to S3 in parallel. This can be disabled by setting `parallel: false` in `_deploy.yml`. [#63](https://github.com/octopress/deploy/pull/63)
+
 ### 1.3.0 - 2015-07-05
 - New: Now `_deploy.yml` is processed through ERB, this means you can load configurations for ENV vars pretty easily. [#62](https://github.com/octopress/deploy/pull/62)
 
diff --git a/lib/octopress-deploy/s3.rb b/lib/octopress-deploy/s3.rb
index a46a16f..6ea2b5c 100644
--- a/lib/octopress-deploy/s3.rb
+++ b/lib/octopress-deploy/s3.rb
@@ -20,11 +20,13 @@ def initialize(options)
         @distro_id   = options[:distribution_id]   || ENV['AWS_DISTRIBUTION_ID']
         @remote_path = (options[:remote_path]      || '/').sub(/^\//,'')
         @verbose     = options[:verbose]
-        @incremental = options[:incremental]
+        @incremental = options[:incremental]       || true
         @delete      = options[:delete]
         @headers     = options[:headers]           || []
         @remote_path = @remote_path.sub(/^\//,'')  # remove leading slash
         @pull_dir    = options[:dir]
+        @bust_cache_files = []
+        @thread_pool = []
         connect
       end
 
@@ -78,64 +80,61 @@ def connect
       # Write site files to the selected bucket
       #
       def write_files
-        puts "Writing #{pluralize('file', site_files.size)}:" if @verbose
-        files_to_invalidate = []
+        puts "Writing #{pluralize('file', site_files.size)}#{" (sequential mode)" unless parallel_upload?}:" if @verbose
+        @bust_cache_files = []
+
         site_files.each do |file|
-          s3_filename = remote_path(file)
-          o = @bucket.objects[s3_filename]
-          file_with_options = get_file_with_metadata(file, s3_filename);
-
-          begin
-            s3sum = o.etag.tr('"','') if o.exists?
-          rescue AWS::S3::Errors::NoSuchKey
-            s3sum = ""
+          if parallel_upload?
+            threaded { write_file file }
+          else
+            write_file file
           end
+        end
 
-          if @incremental && (s3sum == Digest::MD5.file(file).hexdigest)
-            if @verbose
-              puts "= #{remote_path(file)}"
-            else
-              progress('=')
-            end
-          else 
-            o.write(file_with_options)
-            files_to_invalidate.push(file)
-            if @verbose
-              puts "+ #{remote_path(file)}"
-            else
-              progress('+')
-            end
-          end
+        @thread_pool.each(&:join)
+        bust_cloudfront_cache
+      end
+
+      def write_file file
+        if write_file? file
+          s3_upload_file file
+          @bust_cache_files << file
+          @verbose ? puts("+ #{remote_path(file)}") : progress('+')
+        else
+          @verbose ? puts("= #{remote_path(file)}") : progress('=')
         end
+      end
 
-        invalidate_cache(files_to_invalidate) unless @distro_id.nil?
+      def s3_upload_file file
+        s3_object(file).write File.open(file), s3_object_options(file)
       end
 
-      def invalidate_cache(files)
+      def bust_cloudfront_cache
+        return if @distro_id.nil?
+
         puts "Invalidating cache for #{pluralize('file', site_files.size)}" if @verbose
         @cloudfront.create_invalidation(
           distribution_id: @distro_id, 
           invalidation_batch:{
             paths:{
-              quantity: files.size,
-              items: files.map{|file| "/" + remote_path(file)}
-            }, 
+              quantity: @bust_cache_files.size,
+              items: @bust_cache_files.map{|file| "/" + remote_path(file)}
+            },
             # String of 8 random chars to uniquely id this invalidation
             caller_reference: (0...8).map { ('a'..'z').to_a[rand(26)] }.join
           }
-        ) unless files.empty?
+        ) unless @bust_cache_files.empty?
+        @bust_cache_files = []
       end
 
-      def get_file_with_metadata(file, s3_filename)
-        file_with_options = {
-          :file => file,
-          :acl => :public_read
-        }
+      def s3_object_options(file)
+        s3_filename = remote_path file
+        s3_options = { :acl => :public_read }
 
         @headers.each do |conf|
           if conf.has_key? 'filename' and s3_filename.match(conf['filename'])
             if @verbose
-              puts "+ #{remote_path(file)} matched pattern #{conf['filename']}"
+              puts "+ #{s3_filename} matched pattern #{conf['filename']}"
             end
 
             if conf.has_key? 'expires'
@@ -151,24 +150,24 @@ def get_file_with_metadata(file, s3_filename)
                 expireDate = (Time.now + (60 * 60 * 24 * relative_days[1].to_i)).httpdate
               end
 
-              file_with_options[:expires] = expireDate
+              s3_options[:expires] = expireDate
             end
 
             if conf.has_key? 'content_type'
-              file_with_options[:content_type] = conf['content_type']
+              s3_options[:content_type] = conf['content_type']
             end
 
             if conf.has_key? 'cache_control'
-              file_with_options[:cache_control] = conf['cache_control']
+              s3_options[:cache_control] = conf['cache_control']
             end
 
             if conf.has_key? 'content_encoding'
-              file_with_options[:content_encoding] = conf['content_encoding']
+              s3_options[:content_encoding] = conf['content_encoding']
             end
           end
         end
 
-        return file_with_options
+        s3_options
       end
 
       # Delete files from the bucket, to ensure a 1:1 match with site files
@@ -271,11 +270,38 @@ def self.default_config(options={})
 #{"remote_path: #{options[:remote_path] || '/'}".ljust(40)}  # relative path on bucket where files should be copied.
 #{"region: #{options[:remote_path] || 'us-east-1'}".ljust(40)}  # Region where your bucket is located.
 #{"verbose: #{options[:verbose] || 'false'}".ljust(40)}  # Print out all file operations.
-#{"incremental: #{options[:incremental] || 'false'}".ljust(40)}  # Only upload new/changed files
+#{"incremental: #{options[:incremental] || 'true'}".ljust(40)}  # Only upload new/changed files
 #{"delete: #{options[:delete] || 'false'}".ljust(40)}  # Remove files from destination which do not match source files.
+#{"parallel: #{options[:parallel] || 'true'}".ljust(40)}  # Speed up deployment by uploading files in parallel.
 CONFIG
       end
 
+    protected
+
+      def write_file? file
+        return true unless @incremental
+
+        file_digest = Digest::MD5.file(file).hexdigest
+        o = s3_object file
+        s3sum = o.etag.tr('"','') if o.exists?
+        s3sum.to_s != file_digest
+      end
+
+      def s3_object file
+        s3_filename = remote_path file
+        @bucket.objects[s3_filename]
+      end
+
+      def parallel_upload?
+        @options[:parallel]
+      end
+
+      def threaded &blk
+        @thread_pool << Thread.new(blk) do |operation|
+          operation.call
+        end
+      end
+
     end
   end
 end