diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index 028e92c57c9..63c294fac41 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -630,6 +630,11 @@ sup-mouse.el, terminal.el, vi.el, vip.el, ws-mode.el, and yow.el.
 
 * Lisp Changes in Emacs 31.1
 
+---
+** New function 'native-compile-directory'.
+This function native compiles all Lisp files in a directory and in its
+sub-directories (if they are not already native compiled).
+
 +++
 ** The 'defcustom' ':local' keyword can now be 'permanent-only'.
 This means that the variable's 'permanent-local' property is set to t,
diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/comp.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/comp.el
index fc87014202c..8866f47aa66 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/comp.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/comp.el
@@ -3662,6 +3662,17 @@ the compilation was successful return the compiled function."
                             (or native-comp-function string))))
   (comp--native-compile function-or-file nil output))
 
+;;;###autoload
+(defun native-compile-directory (directory)
+  "Native compile if necessary all the .el files present in DIRECTORY.
+Each .el file is native compiled if the corresponding .eln file is not
+found inside the current `native-comp-eln-load-path'. The search within
+DIRECTORY is perfomed recursively."
+  (mapc (lambda (file)
+	  (unless (comp-lookup-eln file)
+	    (native-compile file)))
+	(directory-files-recursively directory ".+\\.el\\'")))
+
 ;;;###autoload
 (defun batch-native-compile (&optional for-tarball)
   "Perform batch native compilation of remaining command-line arguments.