diff --git a/universe/wrappers/recording.py b/universe/wrappers/recording.py
index bb749b24..633f14ab 100644
--- a/universe/wrappers/recording.py
+++ b/universe/wrappers/recording.py
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 import os
 import json
 import numpy as np
-from universe import rewarder, spaces, vectorized
+import threading, queue
+from universe import rewarder, spaces, vectorized, pyprofile
 from universe.utils import random_alphanumeric
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -91,13 +92,6 @@ def _get_writer(self, i):
             self._log_n[i] = RecordingWriter(self._recording_dir, self._instance_id, i)
         return self._log_n[i]
 
-    def _close_log_files(self, i):
-        if self._log_n is None:
-            return
-        if self._log_n[i] is not None:
-            self._log_n[i].close()
-            self._log_n[i] = None
-
     def _reset(self):
         for i in range(self.n):
             writer = self._get_writer(i)
@@ -135,9 +129,16 @@ def _step(self, action_n):
 
         return observation_n, reward_n, done_n, info
 
+    def _close(self):
+        super(Recording, self)._close()
+        if self._log_n is not None:
+            for i in range(self.n):
+                if self._log_n[i] is not None:
+                    self._log_n[i].close()
+                    self._log_n[i] = None
 
 class RecordingWriter(object):
-    def __init__(self, recording_dir, instance_id, channel_id):
+    def __init__(self, recording_dir, instance_id, channel_id, async_write=True):
         self.log_fn = 'universe.recording.{}.{}.{}.jsonl'.format(os.getpid(), instance_id, channel_id)
         log_path = os.path.join(recording_dir, self.log_fn)
         self.bin_fn = 'universe.recording.{}.{}.{}.bin'.format(os.getpid(), instance_id, channel_id)
@@ -145,8 +146,20 @@ def __init__(self, recording_dir, instance_id, channel_id):
         extra_logger.info('Logging to %s and %s', log_path, self.bin_fn)
         self.log_f = open(log_path, 'w')
         self.bin_f = open(bin_path, 'wb')
+        self.async_write = async_write
+        if self.async_write:
+            self.q = queue.Queue()
+            self.t = threading.Thread(target=self.writer_main)
+            self.t.start()
 
     def close(self):
+        if self.async_write:
+            self.q.put(None)
+            self.t.join()
+        else:
+            self.close_files()
+
+    def close_files(self):
         if self.bin_f is not None:
             self.bin_f.close()
             self.bin_f = None
@@ -176,10 +189,26 @@ def json_encode(self, obj):
         else:
             return obj
 
+    def writer_main(self):
+        while True:
+            item = self.q.get()
+            if item is None: break
+            self.write_item(item)
+            self.q.task_done()
+        self.close_files()
+
     def __call__(self, **kwargs):
-        l = json.dumps(kwargs, skipkeys=True, default=self.json_encode)
-        self.log_f.write(l + '\n')
-        self.log_f.flush()
+        if self.async_write:
+            pyprofile.gauge('recording.qsize', self.q.qsize())
+            self.q.put(kwargs)
+        else:
+            self.write_item(kwargs)
+
+    def write_item(self, item):
+        with pyprofile.push('recording.write'):
+            l = json.dumps(item, skipkeys=True, default=self.json_encode)
+            self.log_f.write(l + '\n')
+            self.log_f.flush()
 
 class RecordingAnnotator(object):
     def __init__(self, writer, episode_id, step_id):