diff --git a/docs/en/api-guides/tools/idf-tools.rst b/docs/en/api-guides/tools/idf-tools.rst
index 6ea511a3ff..7c2cfe2044 100644
--- a/docs/en/api-guides/tools/idf-tools.rst
+++ b/docs/en/api-guides/tools/idf-tools.rst
@@ -40,6 +40,20 @@ Inside ``IDF_TOOLS_PATH``, the scripts performing tools installation create the
 - ``dist`` — where the archives of the tools are downloaded.
 - ``tools`` — where the tools are extracted. The tools are extracted into subdirectories: ``tools/TOOL_NAME/VERSION/``. This arrangement allows different versions of tools to be installed side by side.
 
+GitHub Assets Mirror
+--------------------
+
+Most of the tools downloaded by the tools installer are GitHub Release Assets, which are files attached to a software release on GitHub.
+
+If GitHub downloads are inaccessible or slow to access, it's possible to configure a GitHub assets mirror.
+
+To use Espressif's download server, set the environment variable ``IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS`` to ``dl.espressif.com/github_assets``. When the install process is downloading a tool from ``github.com``, the URL will be rewritten to use this server instead.
+
+Any mirror server can be used provided the URL matches the ``github.com`` download URL format: the install process will replace ``https://github.com`` with ``https://${IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS}`` for any GitHub asset URL that it downloads.
+
+.. note:: The Espressif download server doesn't currently mirror everything from GitHub, it only mirrors files attached as Assets to some releases as well as source archives for some releases.
+
+
 ``idf_tools.py`` script
 -----------------------
 
diff --git a/docs/en/get-started/index.rst b/docs/en/get-started/index.rst
index 07de69d56b..419573906d 100644
--- a/docs/en/get-started/index.rst
+++ b/docs/en/get-started/index.rst
@@ -219,6 +219,33 @@ Linux and macOS
     cd ~/esp/esp-idf
     ./install.sh
 
+Alternative File Downloads
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+The tools installer downloads a number of files attached to GitHub Releases. If accessing GitHub is slow then it is possible to set an environment variable to prefer Espressif's download server for GitHub asset downloads.
+
+.. note:: This setting only controls individual tools downloaded from GitHub releases, it doesn't change the URLs used to access any Git repositories.
+
+Windows
+-------
+
+To prefer the Espressif download server when running the ESP-IDF Tools Installer or installing tools from the command line, open the System control panel, then click on Advanced Settings. Add a new Environment Variable (of type either User or System) with the name ``IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS`` and value ``dl.espressif.com/github_assets``. Click OK once done.
+
+If the command line window or ESP-IDF Tools Installer window was already open before you added the new environment variable, you will need to close and reopen it.
+
+While this environment variable is still set, the ESP-IDF Tools Installer and the command line installer will prefer the Espressif download server.
+
+Linux and macOS
+---------------
+
+To prefer the Espressif download server when installing tools, use the following sequence of commands when running ``install.sh``:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    cd ~/esp/esp-idf
+    export IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS="dl.espressif.com/github_assets"
+    ./install.sh
+
 Customizing the tools installation path
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/tools/idf_tools.py b/tools/idf_tools.py
index 7699e784d2..f9a4d04b55 100755
--- a/tools/idf_tools.py
+++ b/tools/idf_tools.py
@@ -1066,6 +1066,11 @@ def action_export(args):
         raise SystemExit(1)
 
 
+def apply_url_mirrors(args, tool_download_obj):
+    apply_mirror_prefix_map(args, tool_download_obj)
+    apply_github_assets_option(tool_download_obj)
+
+
 def apply_mirror_prefix_map(args, tool_download_obj):
     """Rewrite URL for given tool_obj, given tool_version, and current platform,
        if --mirror-prefix-map flag or IDF_MIRROR_PREFIX_MAP environment variable is given.
@@ -1093,6 +1098,32 @@ def apply_mirror_prefix_map(args, tool_download_obj):
                 break
 
 
+def apply_github_assets_option(tool_download_obj):
+    """ Rewrite URL for given tool_obj if the download URL is an https://github.com/ URL and the variable
+    IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS is set. The github.com part of the URL will be replaced.
+    """
+    try:
+        github_assets = os.environ["IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS"].strip()
+    except KeyError:
+        return  # no IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS
+    if not github_assets:  # variable exists but is empty
+        return
+
+    # check no URL qualifier in the mirror URL
+    if '://' in github_assets:
+        fatal("IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS shouldn't include any URL qualifier, https:// is assumed")
+        raise SystemExit(1)
+
+    # Strip any trailing / from the mirror URL
+    github_assets = github_assets.rstrip('/')
+
+    old_url = tool_download_obj.url
+    new_url = re.sub(r'^https://github.com/', 'https://{}/'.format(github_assets), old_url)
+    if new_url != old_url:
+        info('Using GitHub assets mirror for URL: {} => {}'.format(old_url, new_url))
+        tool_download_obj.url = new_url
+
+
 def action_download(args):
     tools_info = load_tools_info()
     tools_spec = args.tools
@@ -1135,7 +1166,7 @@ def action_download(args):
         tool_spec = '{}@{}'.format(tool_name, tool_version)
 
         info('Downloading {}'.format(tool_spec))
-        apply_mirror_prefix_map(args, tool_obj.versions[tool_version].get_download_for_platform(platform))
+        apply_url_mirrors(args, tool_obj.versions[tool_version].get_download_for_platform(platform))
 
         tool_obj.download(tool_version)
 
@@ -1176,7 +1207,7 @@ def action_install(args):
             continue
 
         info('Installing {}'.format(tool_spec))
-        apply_mirror_prefix_map(args, tool_obj.versions[tool_version].get_download_for_platform(PYTHON_PLATFORM))
+        apply_url_mirrors(args, tool_obj.versions[tool_version].get_download_for_platform(PYTHON_PLATFORM))
 
         tool_obj.download(tool_version)
         tool_obj.install(tool_version)