diff --git a/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/httpapi.go b/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/httpapi.go
index 1d7b6f863491..e31c1db418d5 100644
--- a/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/httpapi.go
+++ b/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/httpapi.go
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ func NewInternalHandler(m *mux.Router) http.Handler {
 	m.Get(apirouter.Telemetry).Handler(trace.TraceRoute(telemetryHandler))
 	m.Get(apirouter.GraphQL).Handler(trace.TraceRoute(handler(serveGraphQL)))
 	m.Get(apirouter.Configuration).Handler(trace.TraceRoute(handler(serveConfiguration)))
+	m.Get(apirouter.SearchConfiguration).Handler(trace.TraceRoute(handler(serveSearchConfiguration)))
 	m.Path("/ping").Methods("GET").Name("ping").HandlerFunc(handlePing)
 
 	m.NotFoundHandler = http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
diff --git a/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/internal.go b/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/internal.go
index 74249be1e76c..9116cc5e06e7 100644
--- a/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/internal.go
+++ b/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/internal.go
@@ -170,6 +170,25 @@ func serveConfiguration(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// serveSearchConfiguration is _only_ used by the zoekt index server. Zoekt does
+// not depend on frontend and therefore does not have access to `conf.Watch`.
+// Additionally, it only cares about certain search specific settings so this
+// search specific endpoint is used rather than serving the entire site settings
+// from /.internal/configuration.
+func serveSearchConfiguration(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
+	largeFiles := conf.Get().SearchLargeFiles
+	opts := struct {
+		LargeFiles []string
+	}{
+		LargeFiles: largeFiles,
+	}
+	err := json.NewEncoder(w).Encode(opts)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "encode")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func serveReposList(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) error {
 	var opt db.ReposListOptions
 	err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&opt)
diff --git a/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/router/router.go b/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/router/router.go
index 2d8943321cfd..828984b39bd8 100644
--- a/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/router/router.go
+++ b/cmd/frontend/internal/httpapi/router/router.go
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ const (
 	ReposListEnabled       = "internal.repos.list-enabled"
 	ReposUpdateMetadata    = "internal.repos.update-metadata"
 	Configuration          = "internal.configuration"
+	SearchConfiguration    = "internal.search-configuration"
 	ExternalServiceConfigs = "internal.external-services.configs"
 	ExternalServicesList   = "internal.external-services.list"
 )
@@ -104,6 +105,7 @@ func NewInternal(base *mux.Router) *mux.Router {
 	base.Path("/repos/update-metadata").Methods("POST").Name(ReposUpdateMetadata)
 	base.Path("/repos/{RepoName:.*}").Methods("POST").Name(ReposGetByName)
 	base.Path("/configuration").Methods("POST").Name(Configuration)
+	base.Path("/search/configuration").Methods("GET").Name(SearchConfiguration)
 	addRegistryRoute(base)
 	addGraphQLRoute(base)
 	addTelemetryRoute(base)
diff --git a/cmd/searcher/search/store.go b/cmd/searcher/search/store.go
index 3e2c3a9dc6e3..9cfb32a9a039 100644
--- a/cmd/searcher/search/store.go
+++ b/cmd/searcher/search/store.go
@@ -7,12 +7,16 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"crypto/sha256"
 	"encoding/hex"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"log"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pkg/api"
+	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pkg/conf"
 	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pkg/diskcache"
 	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pkg/gitserver"
 	"github.com/sourcegraph/sourcegraph/pkg/mutablelimiter"
@@ -120,8 +124,10 @@ func (s *Store) prepareZip(ctx context.Context, repo gitserver.Repo, commit api.
 		return "", errors.Errorf("commit must be resolved (repo=%q, commit=%q)", repo.Name, commit)
 	}
 
+	largeFilePatterns := conf.Get().SearchLargeFiles
+
 	// key is a sha256 hash since we want to use it for the disk name
-	h := sha256.Sum256([]byte(string(repo.Name) + " " + string(commit)))
+	h := sha256.Sum256([]byte(fmt.Sprintf("%q %q %q", repo.Name, commit, largeFilePatterns)))
 	key := hex.EncodeToString(h[:])
 	span.LogKV("key", key)
 
@@ -137,7 +143,7 @@ func (s *Store) prepareZip(ctx context.Context, repo gitserver.Repo, commit api.
 		// since we're just going to close it again immediately.
 		bgctx := opentracing.ContextWithSpan(context.Background(), opentracing.SpanFromContext(ctx))
 		f, err := s.cache.Open(bgctx, key, func(ctx context.Context) (io.ReadCloser, error) {
-			return s.fetch(ctx, repo, commit)
+			return s.fetch(ctx, repo, commit, largeFilePatterns)
 		})
 		var path string
 		if f != nil {
@@ -164,7 +170,7 @@ func (s *Store) prepareZip(ctx context.Context, repo gitserver.Repo, commit api.
 // fetch fetches an archive from the network and stores it on disk. It does
 // not populate the in-memory cache. You should probably be calling
 // prepareZip.
-func (s *Store) fetch(ctx context.Context, repo gitserver.Repo, commit api.CommitID) (rc io.ReadCloser, err error) {
+func (s *Store) fetch(ctx context.Context, repo gitserver.Repo, commit api.CommitID, largeFilePatterns []string) (rc io.ReadCloser, err error) {
 	fetchQueueSize.Inc()
 	ctx, releaseFetchLimiter, err := s.fetchLimiter.Acquire(ctx) // Acquire concurrent fetches semaphore
 	if err != nil {
@@ -225,7 +231,7 @@ func (s *Store) fetch(ctx context.Context, repo gitserver.Repo, commit api.Commi
 		defer r.Close()
 		tr := tar.NewReader(r)
 		zw := zip.NewWriter(pw)
-		err := copySearchable(tr, zw)
+		err := copySearchable(tr, zw, largeFilePatterns)
 		if err1 := zw.Close(); err == nil {
 			err = err1
 		}
@@ -239,7 +245,7 @@ func (s *Store) fetch(ctx context.Context, repo gitserver.Repo, commit api.Commi
 // copySearchable copies searchable files from tr to zw. A searchable file is
 // any file that is a candidate for being searched (under size limit and
 // non-binary).
-func copySearchable(tr *tar.Reader, zw *zip.Writer) error {
+func copySearchable(tr *tar.Reader, zw *zip.Writer, largeFilePatterns []string) error {
 	// 32*1024 is the same size used by io.Copy
 	buf := make([]byte, 32*1024)
 	for {
@@ -276,8 +282,9 @@ func copySearchable(tr *tar.Reader, zw *zip.Writer) error {
 			return err
 		}
 
-		// We do not search the content of large files
-		if hdr.Size > maxFileSize {
+		// We do not search the content of large files unless they are
+		// whitelisted.
+		if hdr.Size > maxFileSize && !ignoreSizeMax(hdr.Name, largeFilePatterns) {
 			continue
 		}
 
@@ -337,6 +344,18 @@ func (s *Store) watchAndEvict() {
 	}
 }
 
+// ignoreSizeMax determines whether the max size should be ignored. It uses
+// the glob syntax found here: https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Match.
+func ignoreSizeMax(name string, patterns []string) bool {
+	for _, pattern := range patterns {
+		pattern = strings.TrimSpace(pattern)
+		if m, _ := filepath.Match(pattern, name); m {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 var (
 	cacheSizeBytes = prometheus.NewGauge(prometheus.GaugeOpts{
 		Namespace: "searcher",
diff --git a/cmd/searcher/search/store_test.go b/cmd/searcher/search/store_test.go
index 1587912ccb68..956979effe71 100644
--- a/cmd/searcher/search/store_test.go
+++ b/cmd/searcher/search/store_test.go
@@ -94,6 +94,37 @@ func TestPrepareZip_fetchTarFail(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestIngoreSizeMax(t *testing.T) {
+	patterns := []string{
+		"foo",
+		"foo.*",
+		"foo_*",
+		"*.foo",
+		"bar.baz",
+	}
+	tests := []struct {
+		name    string
+		ignored bool
+	}{
+		// Pass
+		{"foo", true},
+		{"foo.bar", true},
+		{"foo_bar", true},
+		{"bar.baz", true},
+		{"bar.foo", true},
+		// Fail
+		{"baz.foo.bar", false},
+		{"bar_baz", false},
+		{"baz.baz", false},
+	}
+
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		if got, want := ignoreSizeMax(test.name, patterns), test.ignored; got != want {
+			t.Errorf("case %s got %v want %v", test.name, got, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func tmpStore(t *testing.T) (*Store, func()) {
 	d, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "search_test")
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/schema/schema.go b/schema/schema.go
index 27114a7fb938..43f1ed713f45 100644
--- a/schema/schema.go
+++ b/schema/schema.go
@@ -432,6 +432,7 @@ type SiteConfiguration struct {
 	ParentSourcegraph                 *ParentSourcegraph          `json:"parentSourcegraph,omitempty"`
 	RepoListUpdateInterval            int                         `json:"repoListUpdateInterval,omitempty"`
 	SearchIndexEnabled                *bool                       `json:"search.index.enabled,omitempty"`
+	SearchLargeFiles                  []string                    `json:"search.largeFiles,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // SlackNotificationsConfig description: Configuration for sending notifications to Slack.
diff --git a/schema/site.schema.json b/schema/site.schema.json
index fe6a2ddec276..fda4cb5363fa 100644
--- a/schema/site.schema.json
+++ b/schema/site.schema.json
@@ -22,6 +22,15 @@
       "!go": { "pointer": true },
       "group": "Search"
     },
+    "search.largeFiles": {
+      "description": "A list of file glob patterns where matching files will be indexed and searched regardless of their size. The glob pattern syntax can be found here: https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Match.",
+      "type": "array",
+      "items": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "group": "Search",
+      "examples": [["go.sum", "package-lock.json", "*.thrift"]]
+    },
     "experimentalFeatures": {
       "description": "Experimental features to enable or disable. Features that are now enabled by default are marked as deprecated.",
       "type": "object",
diff --git a/schema/site_stringdata.go b/schema/site_stringdata.go
index eea199986a4f..9965d7cdbf76 100644
--- a/schema/site_stringdata.go
+++ b/schema/site_stringdata.go
@@ -27,6 +27,15 @@ const SiteSchemaJSON = `{
       "!go": { "pointer": true },
       "group": "Search"
     },
+    "search.largeFiles": {
+      "description": "A list of file glob patterns where matching files will be indexed and searched regardless of their size. The glob pattern syntax can be found here: https://golang.org/pkg/path/filepath/#Match.",
+      "type": "array",
+      "items": {
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "group": "Search",
+      "examples": [["go.sum", "package-lock.json", "*.thrift"]]
+    },
     "experimentalFeatures": {
       "description": "Experimental features to enable or disable. Features that are now enabled by default are marked as deprecated.",
       "type": "object",