diff --git a/apps/bulletobjecttool/main.cpp b/apps/bulletobjecttool/main.cpp
index 973ec3ee8b..aad8c5e082 100644
--- a/apps/bulletobjecttool/main.cpp
+++ b/apps/bulletobjecttool/main.cpp
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 #include <components/vfs/manager.hpp>
 #include <components/vfs/registerarchives.hpp>
 #include <components/esm3/readerscache.hpp>
+#include <components/platform/platform.hpp>
 
 #include <boost/program_options.hpp>
 
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 
+
 namespace
 {
     namespace bpo = boost::program_options;
@@ -106,6 +108,8 @@ namespace
 
     int runBulletObjectTool(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
+        Platform::init();
+
         bpo::options_description desc = makeOptionsDescription();
 
         bpo::parsed_options options = bpo::command_line_parser(argc, argv)
diff --git a/apps/launcher/main.cpp b/apps/launcher/main.cpp
index 4e054867f4..57b8ee4b78 100644
--- a/apps/launcher/main.cpp
+++ b/apps/launcher/main.cpp
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <QDir>
 
 #include <components/debug/debugging.hpp>
+#include <components/platform/platform.hpp>
 
 #ifdef MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED
 #undef MAC_OS_X_VERSION_MIN_REQUIRED
@@ -16,6 +17,8 @@
 
 int runLauncher(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
+    Platform::init();
+
     try
     {
         QApplication app(argc, argv);
diff --git a/apps/navmeshtool/main.cpp b/apps/navmeshtool/main.cpp
index 9b49fa2fff..c1f8a8e90a 100644
--- a/apps/navmeshtool/main.cpp
+++ b/apps/navmeshtool/main.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 #include <components/vfs/manager.hpp>
 #include <components/vfs/registerarchives.hpp>
 #include <components/esm3/readerscache.hpp>
+#include <components/platform/platform.hpp>
 
 #include <osg/Vec3f>
 
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@
 #include <io.h>
 #endif
 
+
 namespace NavMeshTool
 {
     namespace
@@ -102,6 +104,8 @@ namespace NavMeshTool
 
         int runNavMeshTool(int argc, char *argv[])
         {
+            Platform::init();
+
             bpo::options_description desc = makeOptionsDescription();
 
             bpo::parsed_options options = bpo::command_line_parser(argc, argv)
diff --git a/apps/opencs/main.cpp b/apps/opencs/main.cpp
index 1e6e718983..a15ab17fa2 100644
--- a/apps/opencs/main.cpp
+++ b/apps/opencs/main.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include <QMetaType>
 
 #include <components/debug/debugging.hpp>
+#include <components/platform/platform.hpp>
 
 #include "model/doc/messages.hpp"
 #include "model/world/universalid.hpp"
@@ -43,6 +44,8 @@ class Application : public QApplication
 
 int runApplication(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
+    Platform::init();
+
 #ifdef Q_OS_MAC
     setenv("OSG_GL_TEXTURE_STORAGE", "OFF", 0);
 #endif
diff --git a/apps/openmw/main.cpp b/apps/openmw/main.cpp
index e73dac113c..730342cacb 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/main.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/main.cpp
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 #include <components/fallback/validate.hpp>
 #include <components/debug/debugging.hpp>
 #include <components/misc/rng.hpp>
+#include <components/platform/platform.hpp>
 
 #include "mwgui/debugwindow.hpp"
 
@@ -207,6 +208,8 @@ namespace
 
 int runApplication(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
+    Platform::init();
+
 #ifdef __APPLE__
     std::filesystem::path binary_path = std::filesystem::system_complete(std::filesystem::path(argv[0]));
     std::filesystem::current_path(binary_path.parent_path());
diff --git a/components/CMakeLists.txt b/components/CMakeLists.txt
index 1465d9c3f2..779c8d28f5 100644
--- a/components/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/components/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -335,6 +335,10 @@ add_component_dir(navmeshtool
     protocol
     )
 
+add_component_dir(platform
+    platform
+    )
+
 set (ESM_UI ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/files/ui/contentselector.ui
     )
 
diff --git a/components/platform/platform.cpp b/components/platform/platform.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9044ba3792
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/platform/platform.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+#include "platform.hpp"
+
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+namespace Platform {
+
+    static void increaseFileHandleLimit()
+    {
+#ifdef WIN32
+        // Increase limit for open files at the stream I/O level, see
+        // https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/c-runtime-library/reference/setmaxstdio?view=msvc-170#remarks
+        _setmaxstdio(8192);
+#else
+        // No-op on any other platform.
+#endif
+    }
+
+    void init()
+    {
+        increaseFileHandleLimit();
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/components/platform/platform.hpp b/components/platform/platform.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d8f2058217
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/platform/platform.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#ifndef OPENMW_COMPONENTS_PLATFORM_PLATFORM_HPP
+#define OPENMW_COMPONENTS_PLATFORM_PLATFORM_HPP
+
+namespace Platform {
+
+    void init();
+
+}
+
+#endif // OPENMW_COMPONENTS_PLATFORM_PLATFORM_HPP