diff --git a/osc/build.py b/osc/build.py
index ff3d3155..c47f6b2c 100644
--- a/osc/build.py
+++ b/osc/build.py
@@ -144,7 +144,15 @@ class Buildinfo:
             self.release = root.find('release').text
         else:
             self.release = None
-        self.downloadurl = root.get('downloadurl')
+        if config['api_host_options'][apiurl]['downloadurl']:
+            self.enable_cpio = False
+            self.downloadurl = config['api_host_options'][apiurl]['downloadurl'] + "/repositories"
+            if config['http_debug']:
+                print("⚠️   setting dl_url to %s" % config['api_host_options'][apiurl]['downloadurl'])
+        else:
+            self.enable_cpio = True
+            self.downloadurl = root.get('downloadurl')
+
         self.debuginfo = 0
         if root.find('debuginfo') != None:
             try:
@@ -181,7 +189,12 @@ class Buildinfo:
             # a hash providing the matching URL for specific repos for newer OBS instances
             if node.get('url'):
                 url = node.get('url').replace('%', '%%')
-                self.urls[node.get('project')+"/"+node.get('repository')] = url + '/%(arch)s/%(filename)s'
+                if config['api_host_options'][apiurl]['downloadurl']:
+                    # Add the path element to the download url override.
+                    baseurl = config['api_host_options'][apiurl]['downloadurl'] + urlsplit(node.get('url'))[2]
+                else:
+                    baseurl = node.get('url')
+                self.urls[node.get('project')+"/"+node.get('repository')] = baseurl + '/%(arch)s/%(filename)s'
 
         self.vminstall_list = [ dep.name for dep in self.deps if dep.vminstall ]
         self.preinstall_list = [ dep.name for dep in self.deps if dep.preinstall ]
@@ -1062,7 +1075,7 @@ def main(apiurl, opts, argv):
                       offline = opts.noinit or opts.offline,
                       http_debug = config['http_debug'],
                       modules = bi.modules,
-                      enable_cpio = not opts.disable_cpio_bulk_download,
+                      enable_cpio=not opts.disable_cpio_bulk_download and bi.enable_cpio,
                       cookiejar=cookiejar,
                       download_api_only=opts.download_api_only)
 
diff --git a/osc/conf.py b/osc/conf.py
index 07c6c967..09e38f1d 100644
--- a/osc/conf.py
+++ b/osc/conf.py
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ boolean_opts = ['debug', 'do_package_tracking', 'http_debug', 'post_mortem', 'tr
     'status_mtime_heuristic', 'print_web_links', 'ccache', 'sccache', 'build-shell-after-fail']
 integer_opts = ['build-jobs']
 
-api_host_options = ['user', 'pass', 'passx', 'aliases', 'http_headers', 'realname', 'email', 'sslcertck', 'cafile', 'capath', 'trusted_prj']
+api_host_options = ['user', 'pass', 'passx', 'aliases', 'http_headers', 'realname', 'email', 'sslcertck', 'cafile', 'capath', 'trusted_prj',
+    'downloadurl']
 
 new_conf_template = """
 [general]
@@ -1024,6 +1025,16 @@ def get_config(override_conffile=None,
         else:
             api_host_options[apiurl]['trusted_prj'] = []
 
+        # ⚠️  This option is experimental and may be removed at any time in the future!
+        # This allows overriding the download url for an OBS instance to specify a closer mirror
+        # or proxy system, which can greatly improve download performance, latency and more.
+        # For example, this can use https://github.com/Firstyear/opensuse-proxy-cache in a local
+        # geo to improve performance.
+        if cp.has_option(url, 'downloadurl'):
+            api_host_options[apiurl]['downloadurl'] = cp.get(url, 'downloadurl')
+        else:
+            api_host_options[apiurl]['downloadurl'] = None
+
     # add the auth data we collected to the config dict
     config['api_host_options'] = api_host_options
     config['apiurl_aliases'] = aliases