diff --git a/doc/muxers.texi b/doc/muxers.texi
index 351cd8c5c4..26a8f2dbc3 100644
--- a/doc/muxers.texi
+++ b/doc/muxers.texi
@@ -416,9 +416,34 @@ This option is useful to avoid to fill the disk with many segment
 files, and limits the maximum number of segment files written to disk
 to @var{wrap}.
 
+
+@item hls_start_number_source
+Start the playlist sequence number (@code{#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE}) according to the specified source.
+Unless @code{hls_flags single_file} is set, it also specifies source of starting sequence numbers of
+segment and subtitle filenames. In any case, if @code{hls_flags append_list}
+is set and read playlist sequence number is greater than the specified start sequence number,
+then that value will be used as start value.
+
+It accepts the following values:
+
+@table @option
+
+@item generic (default)
+Set the starting sequence numbers according to @var{start_number} option value.
+
+@item epoch
+The start number will be the seconds since epoch (1970-01-01 00:00:00)
+
+@item datetime
+The start number will be based on the current date/time as YYYYmmddHHMMSS. e.g. 20161231235759.
+
+@end table
+
 @item start_number @var{number}
-Start the playlist sequence number from @var{number}. Default value is
-0.
+Start the playlist sequence number (@code{#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE}) from the specified @var{number}
+when @var{hls_start_number_source} value is @var{generic}. (This is the default case.)
+Unless @code{hls_flags single_file} is set, it also specifies starting sequence numbers of segment and subtitle filenames.
+Default value is 0.
 
 @item hls_allow_cache @var{allowcache}
 Explicitly set whether the client MAY (1) or MUST NOT (0) cache media segments.
diff --git a/libavformat/hlsenc.c b/libavformat/hlsenc.c
index a2c606cb6e..3bb15d3f92 100644
--- a/libavformat/hlsenc.c
+++ b/libavformat/hlsenc.c
@@ -39,6 +39,12 @@
 #include "internal.h"
 #include "os_support.h"
 
+typedef enum {
+  HLS_START_SEQUENCE_AS_START_NUMBER = 0,
+  HLS_START_SEQUENCE_AS_SECONDS_SINCE_EPOCH = 1,
+  HLS_START_SEQUENCE_AS_FORMATTED_DATETIME = 2,  // YYYYMMDDhhmmss
+} StartSequenceSourceType;
+
 #define KEYSIZE 16
 #define LINE_BUFFER_SIZE 1024
 
@@ -83,6 +89,7 @@ typedef struct HLSContext {
     unsigned number;
     int64_t sequence;
     int64_t start_sequence;
+    uint32_t start_sequence_source_type;  // enum StartSequenceSourceType
     AVOutputFormat *oformat;
     AVOutputFormat *vtt_oformat;
 
@@ -594,7 +601,16 @@ static int parse_playlist(AVFormatContext *s, const char *url)
     while (!avio_feof(in)) {
         read_chomp_line(in, line, sizeof(line));
         if (av_strstart(line, "#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:", &ptr)) {
-            hls->sequence = atoi(ptr);
+            int64_t tmp_sequence = strtoll(ptr, NULL, 10);
+            if (tmp_sequence < hls->sequence)
+              av_log(hls, AV_LOG_VERBOSE,
+                     "Found playlist sequence number was smaller """
+                     "than specified start sequence number: %"PRId64" < %"PRId64", "
+                     "omitting\n", tmp_sequence, hls->start_sequence);
+            else {
+              av_log(hls, AV_LOG_DEBUG, "Found playlist sequence number: %"PRId64"\n", tmp_sequence);
+              hls->sequence = tmp_sequence;
+            }
         } else if (av_strstart(line, "#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY", &ptr)) {
             is_segment = 1;
             hls->discontinuity = 1;
@@ -805,9 +821,8 @@ static int hls_start(AVFormatContext *s)
             av_strlcpy(vtt_oc->filename, c->vtt_basename,
                   sizeof(vtt_oc->filename));
     } else if (c->max_seg_size > 0) {
-        if (av_get_frame_filename2(oc->filename, sizeof(oc->filename),
-            c->basename, c->wrap ? c->sequence % c->wrap : c->sequence,
-            AV_FRAME_FILENAME_FLAGS_MULTIPLE) < 0) {
+        if (replace_int_data_in_filename(oc->filename, sizeof(oc->filename),
+            c->basename, 'd', c->wrap ? c->sequence % c->wrap : c->sequence) < 1) {
                 av_log(oc, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Invalid segment filename template '%s', you can try to use -use_localtime 1 with it\n", c->basename);
                 return AVERROR(EINVAL);
         }
@@ -882,16 +897,14 @@ static int hls_start(AVFormatContext *s)
                 }
                 av_free(fn_copy);
             }
-        } else if (av_get_frame_filename2(oc->filename, sizeof(oc->filename),
-                                  c->basename, c->wrap ? c->sequence % c->wrap : c->sequence,
-                                  AV_FRAME_FILENAME_FLAGS_MULTIPLE) < 0) {
+        } else if (replace_int_data_in_filename(oc->filename, sizeof(oc->filename),
+                   c->basename, 'd', c->wrap ? c->sequence % c->wrap : c->sequence) < 1) {
             av_log(oc, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Invalid segment filename template '%s' you can try to use -use_localtime 1 with it\n", c->basename);
             return AVERROR(EINVAL);
         }
         if( c->vtt_basename) {
-            if (av_get_frame_filename2(vtt_oc->filename, sizeof(vtt_oc->filename),
-                              c->vtt_basename, c->wrap ? c->sequence % c->wrap : c->sequence,
-                              AV_FRAME_FILENAME_FLAGS_MULTIPLE) < 0) {
+            if (replace_int_data_in_filename(vtt_oc->filename, sizeof(vtt_oc->filename),
+                c->vtt_basename, 'd', c->wrap ? c->sequence % c->wrap : c->sequence) < 1) {
                 av_log(vtt_oc, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Invalid segment filename template '%s'\n", c->vtt_basename);
                 return AVERROR(EINVAL);
             }
@@ -979,6 +992,22 @@ static int hls_write_header(AVFormatContext *s)
     int basename_size;
     int vtt_basename_size;
 
+    if (hls->start_sequence_source_type == HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_SECONDS_SINCE_EPOCH || hls->start_sequence_source_type == HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_FORMATTED_DATETIME) {
+        time_t t = time(NULL); // we will need it in either case
+        if (hls->start_sequence_source_type == HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_SECONDS_SINCE_EPOCH) {
+            hls->start_sequence = (int64_t)t;
+        } else if (hls->start_sequence_source_type == HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_FORMATTED_DATETIME) {
+            char b[15];
+            struct tm *p, tmbuf;
+            if (!(p = localtime_r(&t, &tmbuf)))
+                return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+            if (!strftime(b, sizeof(b), "%Y%m%d%H%M%S", p))
+                return AVERROR(ENOMEM);
+            hls->start_sequence = strtoll(b, NULL, 10);
+        }
+        av_log(hls, AV_LOG_DEBUG, "start_number evaluated to %"PRId64"\n", hls->start_sequence);
+    }
+
     hls->sequence       = hls->start_sequence;
     hls->recording_time = (hls->init_time ? hls->init_time : hls->time) * AV_TIME_BASE;
     hls->start_pts      = AV_NOPTS_VALUE;
@@ -1366,7 +1395,10 @@ static const AVOption options[] = {
     {"event", "EVENT playlist", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = PLAYLIST_TYPE_EVENT }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, E, "pl_type" },
     {"vod", "VOD playlist", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = PLAYLIST_TYPE_VOD }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, E, "pl_type" },
     {"method", "set the HTTP method", OFFSET(method), AV_OPT_TYPE_STRING, {.str = NULL},  0, 0,    E},
-
+    {"hls_start_number_source", "set source of first number in sequence", OFFSET(start_sequence_source_type), AV_OPT_TYPE_INT, {.i64 = HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_START_NUMBER }, 0, HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_FORMATTED_DATETIME, E, "start_sequence_source_type" },
+    {"generic", "start_number value (default)", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_START_NUMBER }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, E, "start_sequence_source_type" },
+    {"epoch", "seconds since epoch", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_SECONDS_SINCE_EPOCH }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, E, "start_sequence_source_type" },
+    {"datetime", "current datetime as YYYYMMDDhhmmss", 0, AV_OPT_TYPE_CONST, {.i64 = HLS_START_SEQUNCE_AS_FORMATTED_DATETIME }, INT_MIN, INT_MAX, E, "start_sequence_source_type" },
     { NULL },
 };