diff --git a/framework/include/actions/SplitMeshAction.h b/framework/include/actions/SplitMeshAction.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..ffec3c3e4391
--- /dev/null
+++ b/framework/include/actions/SplitMeshAction.h
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+//* This file is part of the MOOSE framework
+//* https://www.mooseframework.org
+//*
+//* All rights reserved, see COPYRIGHT for full restrictions
+//* https://github.com/idaholab/moose/blob/master/COPYRIGHT
+//*
+//* Licensed under LGPL 2.1, please see LICENSE for details
+//* https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html
+
+#ifndef SPLITMESHACTION_H
+#define SPLITMESHACTION_H
+
+#include "Action.h"
+
+#include <string>
+
+class SplitMeshAction;
+
+template <>
+InputParameters validParams<SplitMeshAction>();
+
+class SplitMeshAction : public Action
+{
+public:
+  SplitMeshAction(InputParameters params);
+
+  virtual void act() override;
+};
+
+#endif // SPLITMESHACTION_H
diff --git a/framework/include/mesh/FileMesh.h b/framework/include/mesh/FileMesh.h
index f29c3c60b05d..f6f11272e614 100644
--- a/framework/include/mesh/FileMesh.h
+++ b/framework/include/mesh/FileMesh.h
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ class FileMesh : public MooseMesh
 
   // Get/Set Filename (for meshes read from a file)
   void setFileName(const std::string & file_name) { _file_name = file_name; }
-  const std::string & getFileName() const { return _file_name; }
+  virtual std::string getFileName() const override { return _file_name; }
 
 protected:
   /// the file_name from whence this mesh came
diff --git a/framework/include/mesh/MooseMesh.h b/framework/include/mesh/MooseMesh.h
index 2db863897dcb..8e3cf1394f01 100644
--- a/framework/include/mesh/MooseMesh.h
+++ b/framework/include/mesh/MooseMesh.h
@@ -812,6 +812,12 @@ class MooseMesh : public MooseObject, public Restartable
    */
   virtual std::unique_ptr<PointLocatorBase> getPointLocator() const;
 
+  /**
+   * Returns the name of the mesh file read to produce this mesh if any or an empty string
+   * otherwise.
+   */
+  virtual std::string getFileName() const { return ""; }
+
 protected:
   /// Deprecated (DO NOT USE)
   std::vector<std::unique_ptr<GhostingFunctor>> _ghosting_functors;
@@ -966,9 +972,6 @@ class MooseMesh : public MooseObject, public Restartable
   /// The patch update strategy
   Moose::PatchUpdateType _patch_update_strategy;
 
-  /// file_name iff this mesh was read from a file
-  std::string _file_name;
-
   /// Vector of all the Nodes in the mesh for determining when to add a new point
   std::vector<Node *> _node_map;
 
diff --git a/framework/include/mesh/TiledMesh.h b/framework/include/mesh/TiledMesh.h
index 3ee0a2a4d780..73010fb84be8 100644
--- a/framework/include/mesh/TiledMesh.h
+++ b/framework/include/mesh/TiledMesh.h
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ class TiledMesh : public MooseMesh
 
   virtual void buildMesh() override;
 
+  virtual std::string getFileName() const override;
+
 protected:
   const Real _x_width;
   const Real _y_width;
diff --git a/framework/include/utils/MooseUtils.h b/framework/include/utils/MooseUtils.h
index 11b825132272..f6d2e8d61208 100644
--- a/framework/include/utils/MooseUtils.h
+++ b/framework/include/utils/MooseUtils.h
@@ -110,6 +110,12 @@ void serialEnd(const libMesh::Parallel::Communicator & comm);
  */
 bool hasExtension(const std::string & filename, std::string ext, bool strip_exodus_ext = false);
 
+/**
+ * Removes any file extension from the fiven string s (i.e. any ".[extension]" suffix of s) and
+ * returns the result.
+ */
+std::string stripExtension(const std::string & s);
+
 /**
  * Function for splitting path and filename
  * @param full_file A complete filename and path
diff --git a/framework/src/actions/SetupMeshAction.C b/framework/src/actions/SetupMeshAction.C
index 89672ac8f1d0..d6f58119d7d2 100644
--- a/framework/src/actions/SetupMeshAction.C
+++ b/framework/src/actions/SetupMeshAction.C
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 #include "SetupMeshAction.h"
 #include "MooseApp.h"
 #include "MooseMesh.h"
+#include "FileMesh.h"
 #include "FEProblem.h"
 #include "ActionWarehouse.h"
 #include "Factory.h"
@@ -155,6 +156,34 @@ SetupMeshAction::act()
   // Create the mesh object and tell it to build itself
   if (_current_task == "setup_mesh")
   {
+    // switch non-file meshes to be a file-mesh if using a pre-split mesh configuration.
+    if (_app.parameters().get<bool>("use_split"))
+    {
+      auto split_file = _app.parameters().get<std::string>("split_file");
+      if (_type != "FileMesh")
+      {
+        if (split_file == "")
+          mooseError("cannot use split mesh with non-file mesh without specifying --split-file on "
+                     "command line");
+
+        _type = "FileMesh";
+        auto new_pars = validParams<FileMesh>();
+        new_pars.set<MeshFileName>("file") = split_file;
+        new_pars.set<MooseApp *>("_moose_app") = _moose_object_pars.get<MooseApp *>("_moose_app");
+        new_pars.set<MooseEnum>("parallel_type") = "distributed";
+        _moose_object_pars = new_pars;
+      }
+      else
+      {
+        new_pars.set<MooseEnum>("parallel_type") = "distributed";
+        if (split_file != "")
+          _moose_object_pars.set<MeshFileName>("file") = split_file;
+        else
+          _moose_object_pars.set<MeshFileName>("file") =
+              MooseUtils::stripExtension(_moose_object_pars.get<MeshFileName>("file")) + ".cpr";
+      }
+    }
+
     _mesh = _factory.create<MooseMesh>(_type, "mesh", _moose_object_pars);
     if (isParamValid("displacements"))
       _displaced_mesh = _factory.create<MooseMesh>(_type, "displaced_mesh", _moose_object_pars);
diff --git a/framework/src/actions/SplitMeshAction.C b/framework/src/actions/SplitMeshAction.C
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0ba4ba8b1e05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/framework/src/actions/SplitMeshAction.C
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+//* This file is part of the MOOSE framework
+//* https://www.mooseframework.org
+//*
+//* All rights reserved, see COPYRIGHT for full restrictions
+//* https://github.com/idaholab/moose/blob/master/COPYRIGHT
+//*
+//* Licensed under LGPL 2.1, please see LICENSE for details
+//* https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-2.1.html
+
+#include "SplitMeshAction.h"
+
+#include "MooseApp.h"
+#include "MooseUtils.h"
+#include "MooseMesh.h"
+#include "libmesh/checkpoint_io.h"
+
+template <>
+InputParameters
+validParams<SplitMeshAction>()
+{
+  return validParams<Action>();
+}
+
+SplitMeshAction::SplitMeshAction(InputParameters params) : Action(params) {}
+
+void
+SplitMeshAction::act()
+{
+  auto mesh = _app.actionWarehouse().mesh();
+
+  if (mesh->getFileName() == "" && _app.parameters().get<std::string>("split_file") == "")
+    mooseError("Output mesh file name must be specified (with --split-file) when splitting "
+               "non-file-based meshes");
+
+  auto splitstr = _app.parameters().get<std::string>("split_mesh");
+  std::vector<unsigned int> splits;
+  bool success = MooseUtils::tokenizeAndConvert(splitstr, splits, ", ");
+  if (!success)
+    mooseError("invalid argument for --split-file: '", splitstr, "'");
+
+  for (std::size_t i = 0; i < splits.size(); i++)
+  {
+    processor_id_type n = splits[i];
+    Moose::out << "Splitting " << n << " ways..." << std::endl;
+
+    auto cpr = libMesh::split_mesh(*mesh, n);
+    Moose::out << "    - writing " << cpr->current_processor_ids().size() << " files per process..."
+               << std::endl;
+    cpr->binary() = true;
+    auto fname = MooseUtils::stripExtension(mesh->getFileName()) + ".cpr";
+    if (mesh->getFileName() == "")
+      fname = _app.parameters().get<std::string>("split_file");
+    cpr->write(fname);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/framework/src/base/Moose.C b/framework/src/base/Moose.C
index 9d127bc537ce..6a49f4006ede 100644
--- a/framework/src/base/Moose.C
+++ b/framework/src/base/Moose.C
@@ -449,6 +449,7 @@
 #include "MaterialDerivativeTestAction.h"
 #include "AddRelationshipManager.h"
 #include "MeshOnlyAction.h"
+#include "SplitMeshAction.h"
 
 // Outputs
 #ifdef LIBMESH_HAVE_EXODUS_API
@@ -1161,6 +1162,7 @@ registerActions(Syntax & syntax, ActionFactory & action_factory)
 
   registerAction(SetupPostprocessorDataAction, "setup_postprocessor_data");
 
+  registerAction(SplitMeshAction, "split_mesh");
   registerAction(MeshOnlyAction, "mesh_only");
   registerAction(SetupMeshAction, "setup_mesh");
   registerAction(SetupMeshAction, "init_mesh");
diff --git a/framework/src/base/MooseApp.C b/framework/src/base/MooseApp.C
index 31dfb29b983c..e3b60d855496 100644
--- a/framework/src/base/MooseApp.C
+++ b/framework/src/base/MooseApp.C
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 #include "libmesh/exodusII_io.h"
 #include "libmesh/mesh_refinement.h"
 #include "libmesh/string_to_enum.h"
+#include "libmesh/checkpoint_io.h"
 
 // System include for dynamic library methods
 #include <dlfcn.h>
@@ -136,6 +137,19 @@ validParams<MooseApp>()
       false,
       "The libMesh Mesh underlying MooseMesh should always be a DistributedMesh");
 
+  params.addCommandLineParam<std::string>(
+      "split_mesh",
+      "--split-mesh [splits]",
+      "comma-separated list of numbers of chunks to split the mesh into");
+
+  params.addCommandLineParam<std::string>("split_file",
+                                          "--split-file [filename]",
+                                          "",
+                                          "optional name of split mesh file(s) to write/read");
+
+  params.addCommandLineParam<bool>(
+      "use_split", "--use-split", false, "use split distributed mesh files");
+
   params.addCommandLineParam<unsigned int>(
       "refinements",
       "-r <n>",
@@ -527,6 +541,12 @@ MooseApp::setupOptions()
       _syntax.addDependency("mesh_only", "setup_mesh_complete");
       _action_warehouse.setFinalTask("mesh_only");
     }
+    else if (isParamValid("split_mesh"))
+    {
+      _syntax.registerTaskName("split_mesh", true);
+      _syntax.addDependency("split_mesh", "setup_mesh_complete");
+      _action_warehouse.setFinalTask("split_mesh");
+    }
     _action_warehouse.build();
   }
   else
@@ -563,17 +583,17 @@ MooseApp::runInputFile()
 
   _action_warehouse.executeAllActions();
 
-  if (isParamValid("mesh_only"))
+  if (isParamValid("mesh_only") || isParamValid("split_mesh"))
     _ready_to_exit = true;
   else if (getParam<bool>("list_constructed_objects"))
   {
     // TODO: ask multiapps for their constructed objects
+    _ready_to_exit = true;
     std::vector<std::string> obj_list = _factory.getConstructedObjects();
     Moose::out << "**START OBJECT DATA**\n";
     for (const auto & name : obj_list)
       Moose::out << name << "\n";
     Moose::out << "**END OBJECT DATA**\n" << std::endl;
-    _ready_to_exit = true;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/framework/src/mesh/TiledMesh.C b/framework/src/mesh/TiledMesh.C
index 8b5c8f1a34bc..4c301b1a179d 100644
--- a/framework/src/mesh/TiledMesh.C
+++ b/framework/src/mesh/TiledMesh.C
@@ -81,6 +81,12 @@ TiledMesh::clone() const
   return *(new TiledMesh(*this));
 }
 
+std::string
+TiledMesh::getFileName() const
+{
+  return getParam<MeshFileName>("file");
+}
+
 void
 TiledMesh::buildMesh()
 {
diff --git a/framework/src/utils/MooseUtils.C b/framework/src/utils/MooseUtils.C
index ce3bf7aace5f..d63ed980d5dc 100644
--- a/framework/src/utils/MooseUtils.C
+++ b/framework/src/utils/MooseUtils.C
@@ -254,6 +254,15 @@ hasExtension(const std::string & filename, std::string ext, bool strip_exodus_ex
     return false;
 }
 
+std::string
+stripExtension(const std::string & s)
+{
+  auto pos = s.rfind(".");
+  if (pos != std::string::npos)
+    return s.substr(0, pos);
+  return s;
+}
+
 std::pair<std::string, std::string>
 splitFileName(std::string full_file)
 {