diff --git a/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/__init__.py b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9d7ce68ad2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+VERSION = (0, 1, 1)
+__version__ = '.'.join(map(str, VERSION))
+
+import os.path
+from mimetypes import guess_type
+
+def _lazy_load(fn):
+    _cached = []
+    def _decorated():
+        if not _cached:
+            _cached.append(fn())
+        return _cached[0]
+    return _decorated
+
+
+@_lazy_load
+def _get_sendfile():
+    from django.utils.importlib import import_module
+    from django.conf import settings
+    from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+
+    backend = getattr(settings, 'SENDFILE_BACKEND', 'sendfile.backends.simple')
+    if not backend:
+        raise ImproperlyConfigured('You must specify a valued for SENDFILE_BACKEND')
+    module = import_module(backend)
+    return module.sendfile
+
+
+
+def sendfile(request, filename, attachment=False, attachment_filename=None):
+    '''
+    create a response to send file using backend configured in SENDFILE_BACKEND
+
+    if attachment is True the content-disposition header will be set with either
+    the filename given or else the attachment_filename (of specified).  This
+    will typically prompt the user to download the file, rather than view it.
+    '''
+    _sendfile = _get_sendfile()
+    response = _sendfile(request, filename)
+    if attachment:
+        attachment_filename = attachment_filename or os.path.basename(filename)
+        response['Content-Disposition'] = 'attachment; filename=%s' % attachment_filename
+
+    response['Content-length'] = os.path.getsize(filename)
+
+    content_type = guess_type(filename)[0]
+    if content_type is None:
+        content_type = "application/octet-stream"
+    response['Content-Type'] = content_type
+
+    return response
diff --git a/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/__init__.py b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/chunked_file.py b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/chunked_file.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0bf1a95610
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/chunked_file.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+from django.http import HttpResponse
+from django.core.files.uploadedfile import SimpleUploadedFile
+
+def sendfile(request, filename):
+    return = HttpResponse(IterFile(filename))
+
+class IterFile(object):
+    def __init__(self, filename):
+        self.file = SimpleUploadedFile(name=filename, content=open(filename).read())
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self.file.chunks()
+
diff --git a/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/development.py b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/development.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5fa2221188
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/development.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+from django.views.static import serve
+
+import os.path
+
+def sendfile(request, filename):
+    '''
+    Send file using django dev static file server.
+
+    DO NOT USE IN PRODUCTION
+    this is only to be used when developing and is provided
+    for convenience only
+    '''
+    dirname = os.path.dirname(filename)
+    basename = os.path.basename(filename)
+    return serve(request, basename, dirname)
diff --git a/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/mod_wsgi.py b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/mod_wsgi.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..82cf55c806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/mod_wsgi.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+from django.http import HttpResponse
+
+from django.conf import settings
+import os.path
+
+def _convert_file_to_url(filename):
+    # CURRENTLY NOT WORKING
+    # mod_wsgi wants a relative URL not a filename
+    # so apache does an internal redirect
+
+    relpath = os.path.relpath(filename, settings.SENDFILE_ROOT)
+    
+    url = [settings.SENDFILE_URL]
+
+    while relpath:
+        relpath, head = os.path.split(relpath)
+        url.insert(1, head)
+
+    return u''.join(url)
+
+def sendfile(request, filename):
+    response = HttpResponse()
+    response['Location'] = _convert_file_to_url(filename)
+    # need to destroy get_host() to stop django
+    # rewriting our location to include http, so that
+    # mod_wsgi is able to do the internal redirect
+    request.get_host = lambda: ''
+
+    return response
+
diff --git a/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/simple.py b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/simple.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d65e8d6b9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/simple.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+from django.core.servers.basehttp import FileWrapper
+from django.http import HttpResponse
+
+def sendfile(request, filename):
+    wrapper = FileWrapper(file(filename))
+    return HttpResponse(wrapper)
diff --git a/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/xsendfile.py b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/xsendfile.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5bba6a3759
--- /dev/null
+++ b/3rd_party_apps/sendfile/backends/xsendfile.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+from django.http import HttpResponse
+
+def sendfile(request, filename):
+    response = HttpResponse()
+    response['X-Sendfile'] = filename
+
+    return response
+