diff --git a/pkg/storage/utils/etag/etag.go b/pkg/storage/utils/etag/etag.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..09519b947e1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/storage/utils/etag/etag.go
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+// Copyright 2018-2020 CERN
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+//
+// In applying this license, CERN does not waive the privileges and immunities
+// granted to it by virtue of its status as an Intergovernmental Organization
+// or submit itself to any jurisdiction.
+
+package etag
+
+import (
+	"crypto/md5"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"regexp"
+)
+
+var (
+	eosMtimeEtag    = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?P<inode>[\w0-9]+):(?P<mtime>[0-9]+\.?[0-9]*)$`)
+	eosChecksumEtag = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?P<inode>[0-9]+):(?P<checksum>[\w0-9]{8})$`)
+)
+
+// This function handles multiple types of etags returned by EOS and other storage
+// drivers. These can have the following formats:
+// (https://github.com/cern-eos/eos/blob/master/namespace/utils/Etag.cc)
+// - EOS directories: directory-id:mtime_sec:mtime_nanosec
+// - EOS files: inode:checksum-length-8 or inode:mtime_sec or md5 checksum
+// - Other drivers: md5 checksum
+//
+// We use the inodes, directory IDs and checksum to generate a new md5 checksum
+// and append the latest mtime of the individual etags if available, so that we
+// maintain the same format as the original etags. This is needed as different
+// clients such as S3 expect these to follow the specified format.
+
+func CombineEtags(etags []string) string {
+	h := md5.New()
+	var mtime string
+	for _, e := range etags {
+		m := findEtagMatch(e)
+		if m["inode"] != "" {
+			_, _ = io.WriteString(h, m["inode"])
+		}
+		if m["checksum"] != "" {
+			_, _ = io.WriteString(h, m["checksum"])
+		}
+		if m["mtime"] != "" && m["mtime"] > mtime {
+			mtime = m["mtime"]
+		}
+	}
+
+	etag := fmt.Sprintf("%x", h.Sum(nil))
+	if mtime != "" {
+		etag = fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", etag[:8], mtime)
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("\"%s\"", etag)
+}
+
+func getEtagParams(regEx *regexp.Regexp, etag string) map[string]string {
+	m := make(map[string]string)
+	match := regEx.FindStringSubmatch(etag)
+	for i, name := range regEx.SubexpNames() {
+		if i > 0 && i < len(match) {
+			m[name] = match[i]
+		}
+	}
+	return m
+}
+
+func findEtagMatch(etag string) map[string]string {
+	if m := getEtagParams(eosChecksumEtag, etag); len(m) > 0 {
+		return m
+	} else if m = getEtagParams(eosMtimeEtag, etag); len(m) > 0 {
+		return m
+	} else {
+		m = make(map[string]string)
+		m["checksum"] = etag
+		return m
+	}
+}