diff --git a/src/routes/files.ts b/src/routes/files.ts
index 28087053c9..7cb1a7edc9 100644
--- a/src/routes/files.ts
+++ b/src/routes/files.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import validateQuery from '../middleware/validate-query';
 import * as FilesService from '../services/files';
 import storage from '../storage';
 import { Readable } from 'stream';
+import logger from '../logger';
 
 const router = express.Router();
 
@@ -15,33 +16,44 @@ router.post(
 		const busboy = new Busboy({ headers: req.headers });
 
 		/**
-		 * The order of the fields in multipart/form-data is important. We require that storage is set
-		 * before the file contents itself. This allows us to set and use the correct storage adapter
-		 * for the file upload.
+		 * The order of the fields in multipart/form-data is important. We require that all fields
+		 * are provided _before_ the files. This allows us to set the storage location, and create
+		 * the row in directus_files async during the upload of the actual file.
 		 */
 
 		let disk: string;
+		let payload: Record<string, any> = {};
 
 		busboy.on('field', (fieldname, val) => {
 			if (fieldname === 'storage') {
 				disk = val;
 			}
+
+			payload[fieldname] = val;
 		});
 
 		busboy.on('file', async (fieldname, fileStream, filename, encoding, mimetype) => {
 			if (!disk) {
+				// @todo error
 				return busboy.emit('error', new Error('no storage provided'));
 			}
 
+			payload = {
+				...payload,
+				filename_disk: filename,
+				filename_download: filename,
+				type: mimetype,
+			};
+
+			fileStream.on('end', () => {
+				logger.info(`File ${filename} uploaded to ${disk}.`);
+			});
+
 			try {
-				await storage.disk(disk).put(filename, fileStream as Readable);
+				await FilesService.createFile(fileStream, payload);
 			} catch (err) {
 				busboy.emit('error', err);
 			}
-
-			fileStream.on('end', () => {
-				console.log(`File ${filename} saved.`);
-			});
 		});
 
 		busboy.on('error', (error: Error) => {
diff --git a/src/services/files.ts b/src/services/files.ts
index 550ff3ebe0..9070f81b9b 100644
--- a/src/services/files.ts
+++ b/src/services/files.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,20 @@
 import { Query } from '../types/query';
 import * as ItemsService from './items';
+import storage from '../storage';
+import * as PayloadService from './payload';
 
-/** @TODO This is a little more involved ofc, circling back later */
-// export const createFile = async (data: Record<string, any>, query: Query) => {
-// 	return await ItemsService.createItem('directus_files', data, query);
-// };
+export const createFile = async (
+	stream: NodeJS.ReadableStream,
+	data: Record<string, any>,
+	query?: Query
+) => {
+	const payload = await PayloadService.processValues('create', 'directus_files', data);
+
+	await ItemsService.createItem('directus_files', payload, query);
+
+	// @todo type of stream in flydrive is wrong: https://github.com/Slynova-Org/flydrive/issues/145
+	await storage.disk(data.storage).put(data.filename_disk, stream as any);
+};
 
 export const readFiles = async (query: Query) => {
 	return await ItemsService.readItems('directus_files', query);