diff --git a/classes/api.php b/classes/api.php
index e505dcc91..45e4d3062 100755
--- a/classes/api.php
+++ b/classes/api.php
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ class API extends Handler {
 					$article = $p->hook_render_article_api(array("article" => $article));
 				}
 
-				$article['content'] = rewrite_cached_urls($article['content']);
+				$article['content'] = DiskCache::rewriteUrls($article['content']);
 
 				array_push($articles, $article);
 
@@ -801,7 +801,7 @@ class API extends Handler {
 						$headline_row = $p->hook_render_article_api(array("headline" => $headline_row));
 					}
 
-					$headline_row['content'] = rewrite_cached_urls($headline_row['content']);
+					$headline_row['content'] = DiskCache::rewriteUrls($headline_row['content']);
 
 					array_push($headlines, $headline_row);
 				}
diff --git a/classes/article.php b/classes/article.php
index 43b25f94f..62ea1f3b9 100755
--- a/classes/article.php
+++ b/classes/article.php
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ class Article extends Handler_Protected {
 			foreach ($result as $line) {
 
 				foreach (PluginHost::getInstance()->get_hooks(PluginHost::HOOK_ENCLOSURE_ENTRY) as $plugin) {
-					$line = $plugin->hook_enclosure_entry($line);
+					$line = $plugin->hook_enclosure_entry($line, $id);
 				}
 
 				$url = $line["content_url"];
@@ -676,7 +676,7 @@ class Article extends Handler_Protected {
 		while ($line = $sth->fetch()) {
 
 			if (file_exists(CACHE_DIR . '/images/' . sha1($line["content_url"]))) {
-				$line["content_url"] = get_self_url_prefix() . '/public.php?op=cached_url&hash=' . sha1($line["content_url"]);
+				$line["content_url"] = DiskCache::getUrl(sha1($line["content_url"]));
 			}
 
 			array_push($rv, $line);
diff --git a/classes/diskcache.php b/classes/diskcache.php
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..41609d6b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/classes/diskcache.php
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+<?php
+class DiskCache {
+	private $dir;
+
+	public function __construct($dir) {
+		$this->dir = CACHE_DIR . "/" . basename($dir);
+	}
+
+	public function getDir() {
+		return $this->dir;
+	}
+
+	public function makeDir() {
+		if (!is_dir($this->dir)) {
+			return mkdir($this->dir);
+		}
+	}
+
+	public function isWritable($filename = "") {
+		if ($filename) {
+			if (file_exists($this->getFullPath($filename)))
+				return is_writable($this->getFullPath($filename));
+			else
+				return is_writable($this->dir);
+		} else {
+			return is_writable($this->dir);
+		}
+	}
+
+	public function exists($filename) {
+		return file_exists($this->getFullPath($filename));
+	}
+
+	public function getSize($filename) {
+		if ($this->exists($filename))
+			return filesize($this->getFullPath($filename));
+		else
+			return -1;
+	}
+
+	public function getFullPath($filename) {
+		$filename = basename($filename);
+
+		return $this->dir . "/" . $filename;
+	}
+
+	public function put($filename, $data) {
+		return file_put_contents($this->getFullPath($filename), $data);
+	}
+
+	public function touch($filename) {
+		return touch($this->getFullPath($filename));
+	}
+
+	public function get($filename) {
+		if ($this->exists($filename))
+			return file_get_contents($this->getFullPath($filename));
+		else
+			return null;
+	}
+
+	public function getMimeType($filename) {
+		if ($this->exists($filename))
+			return mime_content_type($this->getFullPath($filename));
+		else
+			return null;
+	}
+
+	public function send($filename) {
+		header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=\"$filename\"");
+
+		return send_local_file($this->getFullPath($filename));
+	}
+
+	static public function getUrl($filename) {
+		return get_self_url_prefix() . "/public.php?op=cached_url&file=" . $filename;
+	}
+
+	// check for locally cached (media) URLs and rewrite to local versions
+	// this is called separately after sanitize() and plugin render article hooks to allow
+	// plugins work on original source URLs used before caching
+	static public function rewriteUrls($str)
+	{
+		$res = trim($str);
+		if (!$res) return '';
+
+		$doc = new DOMDocument();
+		if ($doc->loadHTML('<?xml encoding="UTF-8">' . $res)) {
+			$xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);
+			$cache = new DiskCache("images");
+
+			$entries = $xpath->query('(//img[@src]|//picture/source[@src]|//video[@poster]|//video/source[@src]|//audio/source[@src])');
+
+			$need_saving = false;
+
+			foreach ($entries as $entry) {
+
+				if ($entry->hasAttribute('src') || $entry->hasAttribute('poster')) {
+
+					// should be already absolutized because this is called after sanitize()
+					$src = $entry->hasAttribute('poster') ? $entry->getAttribute('poster') : $entry->getAttribute('src');
+					$cached_filename = sha1($src);
+
+					if ($cache->getSize($cached_filename) > 0) {
+
+						$src = DiskCache::getUrl(sha1($src));
+
+						if ($entry->hasAttribute('poster'))
+							$entry->setAttribute('poster', $src);
+						else
+							$entry->setAttribute('src', $src);
+
+						$need_saving = true;
+					}
+				}
+			}
+
+			if ($need_saving) {
+				$doc->removeChild($doc->firstChild); //remove doctype
+				$res = $doc->saveHTML();
+			}
+		}
+		return $res;
+	}
+
+	static function expire() {
+		$dirs = array_filter(glob(CACHE_DIR . "/*"), "is_dir");
+
+		foreach ($dirs as $cache_dir) {
+			$num_deleted = 0;
+
+			if (is_writable($cache_dir) && !file_exists("$cache_dir/.no-auto-expiry")) {
+				$files = glob("$cache_dir/*");
+
+				if ($files) {
+					foreach ($files as $file) {
+						if (time() - filemtime($file) > 86400*CACHE_MAX_DAYS) {
+							unlink($file);
+
+							++$num_deleted;
+						}
+					}
+				}
+
+				Debug::log("Expired $cache_dir: removed $num_deleted files.");
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/classes/feeds.php b/classes/feeds.php
index c1f973830..b89f4e4ca 100755
--- a/classes/feeds.php
+++ b/classes/feeds.php
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ class Feeds extends Handler_Protected {
                     $line = $p->hook_render_article_cdm($line);
                 }
 
-                $line['content'] = rewrite_cached_urls($line['content']);
+                $line['content'] = DiskCache::rewriteUrls($line['content']);
 
                 if ($line['note'])
                     $line['note'] = Article::format_article_note($id, $line['note']);
diff --git a/classes/handler/public.php b/classes/handler/public.php
index 0e990bec7..901844e36 100755
--- a/classes/handler/public.php
+++ b/classes/handler/public.php
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ class Handler_Public extends Handler {
 				$line = $p->hook_render_article($line);
 			}
 
-			$line['content'] = rewrite_cached_urls($line['content']);
+			$line['content'] = DiskCache::rewriteUrls($line['content']);
 
 			$enclosures = Article::get_article_enclosures($line["id"]);
 
@@ -1202,24 +1202,21 @@ class Handler_Public extends Handler {
 	}
 
 	function cached_url() {
-		@$req_filename = basename($_GET['hash']);
+		$filename = $_GET['file'];
 
-		// we don't need an extension to find the file, hash is a complete URL
-		$hash = preg_replace("/\.[^\.]*$/", "", $req_filename);
-
-		if ($hash) {
-
-			$filename = CACHE_DIR . '/images/' . $hash;
-
-			if (file_exists($filename)) {
-				header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=\"$req_filename\"");
+		if (strpos($filename, "/") !== FALSE) {
+			list ($cache_dir, $filename) = explode("/", $filename, 2);
+		} else {
+			$cache_dir = "images";
+		}
 
-				send_local_file($filename);
+		$cache = new DiskCache($cache_dir);
 
-			} else {
-				header($_SERVER["SERVER_PROTOCOL"]." 404 Not Found");
-				echo "File not found.";
-			}
+		if ($cache->exists($filename)) {
+			$cache->send($filename);
+		} else {
+			header($_SERVER["SERVER_PROTOCOL"]." 404 Not Found");
+			echo "File not found.";
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/classes/pluginhost.php b/classes/pluginhost.php
index a3c12ecae..001d5bae2 100755
--- a/classes/pluginhost.php
+++ b/classes/pluginhost.php
@@ -470,4 +470,8 @@ class PluginHost {
 	function get_filter_actions() {
 		return $this->plugin_actions;
 	}
+
+	function get_owner_uid() {
+		return $this->owner_uid;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/classes/rssutils.php b/classes/rssutils.php
index 4c8da4546..6ba5eaa0b 100755
--- a/classes/rssutils.php
+++ b/classes/rssutils.php
@@ -871,7 +871,7 @@ class RSSUtils {
 					$entry_ref_id = $ref_id;
 
 					if (RSSUtils::find_article_filter($article_filters, "filter")) {
-						Debug::log("article is filtered out, nothing to do.");
+						Debug::log("article is filtered out, nothing to do.", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
 						$pdo->commit();
 						continue;
 					}
@@ -1284,32 +1284,6 @@ class RSSUtils {
 		Debug::log("Removed $num_deleted old lock files.");
 	}
 
-	static function expire_cached_files() {
-		foreach (array("feeds", "images", "export", "upload") as $dir) {
-			$cache_dir = CACHE_DIR . "/$dir";
-
-			Debug::log("Expiring $cache_dir", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
-
-			$num_deleted = 0;
-
-			if (is_writable($cache_dir)) {
-				$files = glob("$cache_dir/*");
-
-				if ($files) {
-					foreach ($files as $file) {
-						if (time() - filemtime($file) > 86400*CACHE_MAX_DAYS) {
-							unlink($file);
-
-							++$num_deleted;
-						}
-					}
-				}
-			}
-
-			Debug::log("$cache_dir: removed $num_deleted files.");
-		}
-	}
-
 	/**
 	 * Source: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.parse-url.php#104527
 	 * Returns the url query as associative array
@@ -1498,7 +1472,8 @@ class RSSUtils {
 	}
 
 	static function housekeeping_common() {
-		RSSUtils::expire_cached_files();
+		DiskCache::expire();
+
 		RSSUtils::expire_lock_files();
 		RSSUtils::expire_error_log();
 		RSSUtils::expire_feed_archive();
diff --git a/include/functions.php b/include/functions.php
index 80ae3fe7e..5a66e53b9 100644
--- a/include/functions.php
+++ b/include/functions.php
@@ -1233,64 +1233,6 @@
 		return false;
 	}
 
-	// check for locally cached (media) URLs and rewrite to local versions
-	// this is called separately after sanitize() and plugin render article hooks to allow
-	// plugins work on original source URLs used before caching
-
-	function rewrite_cached_urls($str) {
-		$res = trim($str); if (!$res) return '';
-
-		$doc = new DOMDocument();
-		$doc->loadHTML('<?xml encoding="UTF-8">' . $res);
-		$xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);
-
-		$entries = $xpath->query('(//img[@src]|//picture/source[@src]|//video[@poster]|//video/source[@src]|//audio/source[@src])');
-
-		$need_saving = false;
-
-		foreach ($entries as $entry) {
-
-			if ($entry->hasAttribute('src') || $entry->hasAttribute('poster')) {
-
-				// should be already absolutized because this is called after sanitize()
-				$src = $entry->hasAttribute('poster') ? $entry->getAttribute('poster') : $entry->getAttribute('src');
-				$cached_filename = CACHE_DIR . '/images/' . sha1($src);
-
-				if (file_exists($cached_filename)) {
-
-					// this is strictly cosmetic
-					if ($entry->tagName == 'img') {
-						$suffix = ".png";
-					} else if ($entry->parentNode && $entry->parentNode->tagName == "picture") {
-						$suffix = ".png";
-					} else if ($entry->parentNode && $entry->parentNode->tagName == "video") {
-						$suffix = ".mp4";
-					} else if ($entry->parentNode && $entry->parentNode->tagName == "audio") {
-						$suffix = ".ogg";
-					} else {
-						$suffix = "";
-					}
-
-					$src = get_self_url_prefix() . '/public.php?op=cached_url&hash=' . sha1($src) . $suffix;
-
-					if ($entry->hasAttribute('poster'))
-						$entry->setAttribute('poster', $src);
-					else
-						$entry->setAttribute('src', $src);
-
-					$need_saving = true;
-				}
-			}
-		}
-
-		if ($need_saving) {
-			$doc->removeChild($doc->firstChild); //remove doctype
-			$res = $doc->saveHTML();
-		}
-
-		return $res;
-	}
-
 	function sanitize($str, $force_remove_images = false, $owner = false, $site_url = false, $highlight_words = false, $article_id = false) {
 		if (!$owner) $owner = $_SESSION["uid"];
 
@@ -1315,9 +1257,6 @@
 
 			if ($entry->hasAttribute('src')) {
 				$src = rewrite_relative_url($rewrite_base_url, $entry->getAttribute('src'));
-
-				// cache stuff has gone to rewrite_cached_urls()
-
 				$entry->setAttribute('src', $src);
 			}
 
diff --git a/plugins/af_zz_imgproxy/init.php b/plugins/af_zz_imgproxy/init.php
index b172d4563..b1281dff0 100755
--- a/plugins/af_zz_imgproxy/init.php
+++ b/plugins/af_zz_imgproxy/init.php
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ class Af_Zz_ImgProxy extends Plugin {
 	/* @var PluginHost $host */
 	private $host;
 
+	/* @var DiskCache $cache */
+	private $cache;
+
 	function about() {
 		return array(1.0,
 			"Load insecure images via built-in proxy",
@@ -18,6 +21,7 @@ class Af_Zz_ImgProxy extends Plugin {
 
 	function init($host) {
 		$this->host = $host;
+		$this->cache = new DiskCache("images");
 
 		$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_RENDER_ARTICLE, $this);
 		$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_RENDER_ARTICLE_CDM, $this);
@@ -50,16 +54,10 @@ class Af_Zz_ImgProxy extends Plugin {
 			return;
 		}
 
-		$local_filename = CACHE_DIR . "/images/" . sha1($url);
-
-		if ($_REQUEST["debug"] == "1") { print $url . "\n" . $local_filename; die; }
-
-		header("Content-Disposition: inline; filename=\"".basename($local_filename)."\"");
-
-		if (file_exists($local_filename)) {
-
-			send_local_file($local_filename);
+		$local_filename = sha1($url);
 
+		if ($this->cache->exists($local_filename)) {
+			$this->cache->send($local_filename);
 		} else {
 			$data = fetch_file_contents(["url" => $url, "max_size" => MAX_CACHE_FILE_SIZE]);
 
@@ -68,8 +66,8 @@ class Af_Zz_ImgProxy extends Plugin {
 				$disable_cache = $this->host->get($this, "disable_cache");
 
 				if (!$disable_cache && strlen($data) > MIN_CACHE_FILE_SIZE) {
-					if (file_put_contents($local_filename, $data)) {
-						$mimetype = mime_content_type($local_filename);
+					if ($this->cache->put($local_filename, $data)) {
+						$mimetype = $this->cache->getMimeType($local_filename);
 						header("Content-type: $mimetype");
 					}
 				}
@@ -110,7 +108,7 @@ class Af_Zz_ImgProxy extends Plugin {
 		}
 	}
 
-	function rewrite_url_if_needed($url, $all_remote = false) {
+	private function rewrite_url_if_needed($url, $all_remote = false) {
 		$scheme = parse_url($url, PHP_URL_SCHEME);
 
 		if ($all_remote) {
diff --git a/plugins/cache_starred_images/init.php b/plugins/cache_starred_images/init.php
index 9c64ac3d0..916cedd53 100755
--- a/plugins/cache_starred_images/init.php
+++ b/plugins/cache_starred_images/init.php
@@ -1,90 +1,80 @@
 <?php
-class Cache_Starred_Images extends Plugin implements IHandler {
+class Cache_Starred_Images extends Plugin {
 
 	/* @var PluginHost $host */
 	private $host;
-	private $cache_dir;
+	/* @var DiskCache $cache */
+	private $cache;
     private $max_cache_attempts = 5; // per-article
 
 	function about() {
 		return array(1.0,
-			"Automatically cache Starred articles' images and HTML5 video files",
-			"fox",
-			true);
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.UnusedFormalParameter)
-	 */
-	function csrf_ignore($method) {
-		return false;
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.UnusedFormalParameter)
-	 */
-	function before($method) {
-		return true;
-	}
-
-	function after() {
-		return true;
+			"Automatically cache media files in Starred articles",
+			"fox");
 	}
 
 	function init($host) {
 		$this->host = $host;
+		$this->cache = new DiskCache("starred-images");
 
-		$this->cache_dir = CACHE_DIR . "/starred-images/";
-
-		if (!is_dir($this->cache_dir)) {
-			mkdir($this->cache_dir);
-		}
+		if ($this->cache->makeDir())
+			chmod($this->cache->getDir(), 0777);
 
-		if (is_dir($this->cache_dir)) {
-
-			if (!is_writable($this->cache_dir))
-				chmod($this->cache_dir, 0777);
-
-			if (is_writable($this->cache_dir)) {
-				$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_UPDATE_TASK, $this);
-				$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_HOUSE_KEEPING, $this);
-				$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_SANITIZE, $this);
-				$host->add_handler("public", "cache_starred_images_getimage", $this);
-
-			} else {
-				user_error("Starred cache directory is not writable.", E_USER_WARNING);
-			}
+		if (!$this->cache->exists(".no-auto-expiry"))
+			$this->cache->touch(".no-auto-expiry");
 
+		if ($this->cache->isWritable()) {
+			$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_HOUSE_KEEPING, $this);
+			$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_ENCLOSURE_ENTRY, $this);
+			$host->add_hook($host::HOOK_SANITIZE, $this);
 		} else {
-			user_error("Unable to create starred cache directory.", E_USER_WARNING);
+			user_error("Starred cache directory ".$this->cache->getDir()." is not writable.", E_USER_WARNING);
 		}
 	}
 
-	function cache_starred_images_getimage() {
-		ob_end_clean();
+	/**
+	 * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.UnusedLocalVariable)
+	 */
+	function hook_house_keeping() {
+		/* since HOOK_UPDATE_TASK is not available to user plugins, this hook is a next best thing */
 
-		$hash = basename($_REQUEST["hash"]);
+		Debug::log("caching media of starred articles for user " . $this->host->get_owner_uid() . "...");
 
-		if ($hash) {
+		$sth = $this->pdo->prepare("SELECT content, ttrss_entries.title, 
+       		ttrss_user_entries.owner_uid, link, site_url, ttrss_entries.id, plugin_data
+			FROM ttrss_entries, ttrss_user_entries LEFT JOIN ttrss_feeds ON
+				(ttrss_user_entries.feed_id = ttrss_feeds.id)
+			WHERE ref_id = ttrss_entries.id AND
+				marked = true AND
+				site_url != '' AND 
+			    ttrss_user_entries.owner_uid = ? AND
+				plugin_data NOT LIKE '%starred_cache_images%'
+			ORDER BY ".sql_random_function()." LIMIT 100");
 
-			$filename = $this->cache_dir . "/" . basename($hash);
+		if ($sth->execute([$this->host->get_owner_uid()])) {
 
-			if (file_exists($filename)) {
-				header("Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=\"$hash\"");
+			$usth = $this->pdo->prepare("UPDATE ttrss_entries SET plugin_data = ? WHERE id = ?");
 
-				send_local_file($filename);
-			} else {
-				header($_SERVER["SERVER_PROTOCOL"]." 404 Not Found");
-				echo "File not found.";
+			while ($line = $sth->fetch()) {
+				Debug::log("processing article " . $line["title"], Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
+
+				if ($line["site_url"]) {
+					$success = $this->cache_article_images($line["content"], $line["site_url"], $line["owner_uid"], $line["id"]);
+
+					if ($success) {
+						$plugin_data = "starred_cache_images,${line['owner_uid']}:" . $line["plugin_data"];
+
+						$usth->execute([$plugin_data, $line['id']]);
+					}
+				}
 			}
 		}
-	}
 
-	/**
-	 * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.UnusedLocalVariable)
-	 */
-	function hook_house_keeping() {
-		$files = glob($this->cache_dir . "/*.{png,mp4,status}", GLOB_BRACE);
+		/* actual housekeeping */
+
+		Debug::log("expiring " . $this->cache->getDir() . "...");
+
+		$files = glob($this->cache->getDir() . "/*.{png,mp4,status}", GLOB_BRACE);
 
 		$last_article_id = 0;
 		$article_exists = 1;
@@ -107,6 +97,16 @@ class Cache_Starred_Images extends Plugin implements IHandler {
 		}
 	}
 
+	function hook_enclosure_entry($enc, $article_id) {
+		$local_filename = $article_id . "-" . sha1($enc["content_url"]);
+
+		if ($this->cache->exists($local_filename)) {
+			$enc["content_url"] = DiskCache::getUrl("starred-images/" . $local_filename);
+		}
+
+		return $enc;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.UnusedFormalParameter)
 	 */
@@ -120,15 +120,12 @@ class Cache_Starred_Images extends Plugin implements IHandler {
 				if ($entry->hasAttribute('src')) {
 					$src = rewrite_relative_url($site_url, $entry->getAttribute('src'));
 
-					$extension = $entry->tagName == 'source' ? '.mp4' : '.png';
-					$local_filename = $this->cache_dir . $article_id . "-" . sha1($src) . $extension;
+					$local_filename = $article_id . "-" . sha1($src);
 
-					if (file_exists($local_filename)) {
-						$entry->setAttribute("src", get_self_url_prefix() .
-							"/public.php?op=cache_starred_images_getimage&method=image&hash=" .
-							$article_id . "-" . sha1($src) . $extension);
+					if ($this->cache->exists($local_filename)) {
+						$entry->setAttribute("src", DiskCache::getUrl("starred-images/" . $local_filename));
+						$entry->removeAttribute("srcset");
 					}
-
 				}
 			}
 		}
@@ -136,42 +133,46 @@ class Cache_Starred_Images extends Plugin implements IHandler {
 		return $doc;
 	}
 
-	function hook_update_task() {
-		$res = $this->pdo->query("SELECT content, ttrss_user_entries.owner_uid, link, site_url, ttrss_entries.id, plugin_data
-			FROM ttrss_entries, ttrss_user_entries LEFT JOIN ttrss_feeds ON
-				(ttrss_user_entries.feed_id = ttrss_feeds.id)
-			WHERE ref_id = ttrss_entries.id AND
-				marked = true AND
-				(UPPER(content) LIKE '%<IMG%' OR UPPER(content) LIKE '%<VIDEO%') AND
-				site_url != '' AND
-				plugin_data NOT LIKE '%starred_cache_images%'
-			ORDER BY ".sql_random_function()." LIMIT 100");
+	private function cache_url($article_id, $url) {
+		$local_filename = $article_id . "-" . sha1($url);
 
-		$usth = $this->pdo->prepare("UPDATE ttrss_entries SET plugin_data = ? WHERE id = ?");
+		if (!$this->cache->getSize($local_filename) >= 0) {
+			Debug::log("cache_images: downloading: $url to $local_filename", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
 
-		while ($line = $res->fetch()) {
-			if ($line["site_url"]) {
-				$success = $this->cache_article_images($line["content"], $line["site_url"], $line["owner_uid"], $line["id"]);
+			$data = fetch_file_contents(["url" => $url, "max_size" => MAX_CACHE_FILE_SIZE]);
 
-				if ($success) {
-					$plugin_data = "starred_cache_images,${line['owner_uid']}:" . $line["plugin_data"];
-
-					$usth->execute([$plugin_data, $line['id']]);
+			if ($data) {
+				if (strlen($data) > MIN_CACHE_FILE_SIZE) {
+					$this->cache->put($local_filename, $data);
 				}
+
+				return true;
 			}
+		} else {
+			//Debug::log("cache_images: local file exists for $url", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
+
+			return true;
 		}
+
+		return false;
 	}
 
 	/**
 	 * @SuppressWarnings(PHPMD.UnusedFormalParameter)
 	 */
-	function cache_article_images($content, $site_url, $owner_uid, $article_id) {
-		$status_filename = $this->cache_dir . $article_id . "-" . sha1($site_url) . ".status";
+	private function cache_article_images($content, $site_url, $owner_uid, $article_id) {
+		$status_filename = $article_id . "-" . sha1($site_url) . ".status";
 
-		Debug::log("status: $status_filename", Debug::$LOG_EXTENDED);
+		/* housekeeping might run as a separate user, in this case status/media might not be writable */
+		if (!$this->cache->isWritable($status_filename)) {
+			Debug::log("status not writable: $status_filename", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
+			return false;
+		}
 
-        if (file_exists($status_filename))
-            $status = json_decode(file_get_contents($status_filename), true);
+		Debug::log("status: $status_filename", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
+
+        if ($this->cache->exists($status_filename))
+            $status = json_decode($this->cache->get($status_filename), true);
         else
             $status = [];
 
@@ -180,47 +181,48 @@ class Cache_Starred_Images extends Plugin implements IHandler {
         // only allow several download attempts for article
         if ($status["attempt"] > $this->max_cache_attempts) {
             Debug::log("too many attempts for $site_url", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
-            return;
+            return false;
         }
 
-        if (!file_put_contents($status_filename, json_encode($status))) {
+        if (!$this->cache->put($status_filename, json_encode($status))) {
             user_error("unable to write status file: $status_filename", E_USER_WARNING);
-            return;
+            return false;
         }
 
 		$doc = new DOMDocument();
-		$doc->loadHTML('<?xml encoding="UTF-8">' . $content);
-		$xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);
-
-		$entries = $xpath->query('(//img[@src])|(//video/source[@src])');
 
-		$success = false;
 		$has_images = false;
+		$success = false;
+
+        if ($doc->loadHTML('<?xml encoding="UTF-8">' . $content)) {
+			$xpath = new DOMXPath($doc);
+			$entries = $xpath->query('(//img[@src])|(//video/source[@src])');
 
-		foreach ($entries as $entry) {
+			foreach ($entries as $entry) {
 
-			if ($entry->hasAttribute('src') && strpos($entry->getAttribute('src'), "data:") !== 0) {
+				if ($entry->hasAttribute('src') && strpos($entry->getAttribute('src'), "data:") !== 0) {
 
-				$has_images = true;
-				$src = rewrite_relative_url($site_url, $entry->getAttribute('src'));
+					$has_images = true;
 
-				$extension = $entry->tagName == 'source' ? '.mp4' : '.png';
+					$src = rewrite_relative_url($site_url, $entry->getAttribute('src'));
 
-				$local_filename = $this->cache_dir . $article_id . "-" . sha1($src) . $extension;
+					if ($this->cache_url($article_id, $src)) {
+						$success = true;
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
 
-				Debug::log("cache_images: downloading: $src to $local_filename", Debug::$LOG_VERBOSE);
+		$esth = $this->pdo->prepare("SELECT content_url FROM ttrss_enclosures WHERE post_id = ? AND
+			(content_type LIKE '%image%' OR content_type LIKE '%video%')");
 
-				if (!file_exists($local_filename)) {
-					$file_content = fetch_file_contents(["url" => $src, "max_size" => MAX_CACHE_FILE_SIZE]);
+        if ($esth->execute([$article_id])) {
+        	while ($enc = $esth->fetch()) {
 
-					if ($file_content) {
-                        if (strlen($file_content) > MIN_CACHE_FILE_SIZE) {
-                            file_put_contents($local_filename, $file_content);
-                        }
+        		$has_images = true;
+        		$url = rewrite_relative_url($site_url, $enc["content_url"]);
 
-						$success = true;
-					}
-				} else {
+				if ($this->cache_url($article_id, $url)) {
 					$success = true;
 				}
 			}