diff --git a/src/PocketMine.php b/src/PocketMine.php
index d13cf33a1a..d6e0ae5061 100644
--- a/src/PocketMine.php
+++ b/src/PocketMine.php
@@ -326,7 +326,8 @@ JIT_WARNING
 			Terminal::init();
 		}
 
-		$logger = new MainLogger(Path::join($dataPath, "server.log"), Terminal::hasFormattingCodes(), "Server", new \DateTimeZone(Timezone::get()));
+		$logger = new MainLogger(Path::join($dataPath, "server.log"), Path::join($dataPath, "log_archive"), Terminal::hasFormattingCodes(), "Server", new \DateTimeZone(Timezone::get()));
+
 		\GlobalLogger::set($logger);
 
 		emit_performance_warnings($logger);
diff --git a/src/utils/MainLogger.php b/src/utils/MainLogger.php
index ffd56b041a..20f9fb6e76 100644
--- a/src/utils/MainLogger.php
+++ b/src/utils/MainLogger.php
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ class MainLogger extends AttachableThreadSafeLogger implements \BufferedLogger{
 	/**
 	 * @throws \RuntimeException
 	 */
-	public function __construct(string $logFile, bool $useFormattingCodes, string $mainThreadName, \DateTimeZone $timezone, bool $logDebug = false){
+	public function __construct(string $logFile, string $logArchiveDir, bool $useFormattingCodes, string $mainThreadName, \DateTimeZone $timezone, bool $logDebug = false){
 		parent::__construct();
 		$this->logDebug = $logDebug;
 
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ class MainLogger extends AttachableThreadSafeLogger implements \BufferedLogger{
 		$this->mainThreadName = $mainThreadName;
 		$this->timezone = $timezone->getName();
 
-		$this->logWriterThread = new MainLoggerThread($logFile);
+		$this->logWriterThread = new MainLoggerThread($logFile, $logArchiveDir);
 		$this->logWriterThread->start(NativeThread::INHERIT_NONE);
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/utils/MainLoggerThread.php b/src/utils/MainLoggerThread.php
index 548e23a4f1..e7acf97376 100644
--- a/src/utils/MainLoggerThread.php
+++ b/src/utils/MainLoggerThread.php
@@ -25,23 +25,42 @@ namespace pocketmine\utils;
 
 use pmmp\thread\Thread;
 use pmmp\thread\ThreadSafeArray;
+use function clearstatcache;
+use function date;
 use function fclose;
+use function file_exists;
 use function fopen;
+use function fstat;
 use function fwrite;
+use function is_dir;
+use function is_file;
 use function is_resource;
+use function mkdir;
+use function pathinfo;
+use function rename;
+use function strlen;
 use function touch;
+use const PATHINFO_EXTENSION;
+use const PATHINFO_FILENAME;
 
 final class MainLoggerThread extends Thread{
+
 	/** @phpstan-var ThreadSafeArray<int, string> */
 	private ThreadSafeArray $buffer;
 	private bool $syncFlush = false;
 	private bool $shutdown = false;
 
 	public function __construct(
-		private string $logFile
+		private string $logFile,
+		private string $archiveDir,
+		private readonly int $maxFileSize = 32 * 1024 * 1024 //32 MB
 	){
 		$this->buffer = new ThreadSafeArray();
 		touch($this->logFile);
+		if(!@mkdir($this->archiveDir) && !is_dir($this->archiveDir)){
+			throw new \RuntimeException("Unable to create archive directory: " . (
+				is_file($this->archiveDir) ? "it already exists and is not a directory" : "permission denied"));
+		}
 	}
 
 	public function write(string $line) : void{
@@ -71,12 +90,64 @@ final class MainLoggerThread extends Thread{
 		$this->join();
 	}
 
+	/** @return resource */
+	private function openLogFile(string $file, int &$size){
+		$logResource = fopen($file, "ab");
+		if(!is_resource($logResource)){
+			throw new \RuntimeException("Couldn't open log file");
+		}
+		$stat = fstat($logResource);
+		if($stat === false){
+			throw new AssumptionFailedError("fstat() should not fail here");
+		}
+		$size = $stat['size'];
+		return $logResource;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @param resource $logResource
+	 * @return resource
+	 */
+	private function archiveLogFile($logResource, int &$size){
+		fclose($logResource);
+
+		clearstatcache();
+
+		$i = 0;
+		$date = date("Y-m-d\TH.i.s");
+		$baseName = pathinfo($this->logFile, PATHINFO_FILENAME);
+		$extension = pathinfo($this->logFile, PATHINFO_EXTENSION);
+		do{
+			//this shouldn't be necessary, but in case the user messes with the system time for some reason ...
+			$fileName = "$baseName.$date.$i.$extension";
+			$out = $this->archiveDir . "/" . $fileName;
+			$i++;
+		}while(file_exists($out));
+
+		//the user may have externally deleted the whole directory - make sure it exists before we do anything
+		@mkdir($this->archiveDir);
+		rename($this->logFile, $out);
+
+		$logResource = $this->openLogFile($this->logFile, $size);
+		fwrite($logResource, "--- Starting new log file - old log file archived as $fileName ---\n");
+
+		return $logResource;
+	}
+
+	private function logFileReadyToArchive(int $size) : bool{
+		return $size >= $this->maxFileSize;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * @param resource $logResource
 	 */
-	private function writeLogStream($logResource) : void{
+	private function writeLogStream(&$logResource, int &$size) : void{
 		while(($chunk = $this->buffer->shift()) !== null){
 			fwrite($logResource, $chunk);
+			$size += strlen($chunk);
+			if($this->logFileReadyToArchive($size)){
+				$logResource = $this->archiveLogFile($logResource, $size);
+			}
 		}
 
 		$this->synchronized(function() : void{
@@ -88,13 +159,14 @@ final class MainLoggerThread extends Thread{
 	}
 
 	public function run() : void{
-		$logResource = fopen($this->logFile, "ab");
-		if(!is_resource($logResource)){
-			throw new \RuntimeException("Couldn't open log file");
+		$size = 0;
+		$logResource = $this->openLogFile($this->logFile, $size);
+		if($this->logFileReadyToArchive($size)){
+			$logResource = $this->archiveLogFile($logResource, $size);
 		}
 
 		while(!$this->shutdown){
-			$this->writeLogStream($logResource);
+			$this->writeLogStream($logResource, $size);
 			$this->synchronized(function() : void{
 				if(!$this->shutdown && !$this->syncFlush){
 					$this->wait();
@@ -102,7 +174,7 @@ final class MainLoggerThread extends Thread{
 			});
 		}
 
-		$this->writeLogStream($logResource);
+		$this->writeLogStream($logResource, $size);
 
 		fclose($logResource);
 	}
diff --git a/tests/phpunit/scheduler/AsyncPoolTest.php b/tests/phpunit/scheduler/AsyncPoolTest.php
index 54c8ccafda..51622dd227 100644
--- a/tests/phpunit/scheduler/AsyncPoolTest.php
+++ b/tests/phpunit/scheduler/AsyncPoolTest.php
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class AsyncPoolTest extends TestCase{
 
 	public function setUp() : void{
 		@define('pocketmine\\COMPOSER_AUTOLOADER_PATH', dirname(__DIR__, 3) . '/vendor/autoload.php');
-		$this->mainLogger = new MainLogger(tempnam(sys_get_temp_dir(), "pmlog"), false, "Main", new \DateTimeZone('UTC'));
+		$this->mainLogger = new MainLogger(tempnam(sys_get_temp_dir(), "pmlog"), sys_get_temp_dir(), false, "Main", new \DateTimeZone('UTC'));
 		$this->pool = new AsyncPool(2, 1024, new ThreadSafeClassLoader(), $this->mainLogger, new SleeperHandler());
 	}