diff --git a/onadata/apps/logger/management/commands/populate_media_file_basename.py b/onadata/apps/logger/management/commands/populate_media_file_basename.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7131196b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/onadata/apps/logger/management/commands/populate_media_file_basename.py
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# vim: ai ts=4 sts=4 et sw=4 coding=utf-8
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.db import connection
+from django.db.models import Q, Func
+from django.db.models.functions import Substr
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
+from django.utils.translation import ugettext as _, ugettext_lazy
+from optparse import make_option
+
+from onadata.apps.logger.models.attachment import Attachment
+
+
+class SubstrFromPattern(Func):
+    function = "SUBSTRING"
+    template = "%(function)s(%(expressions)s from '%(pattern)s')"
+
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+
+    help = ugettext_lazy("Updates indexed field `media_file_basename` which is empty or null")
+    option_list = BaseCommand.option_list + (
+        make_option(
+            '--batchsize',
+            type='int',
+            default=100,
+            help=ugettext_lazy("Number of records to process per query")),)
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        batchsize = kwargs.get("batchsize", 100)
+        stop = False
+        offset = 0
+        while stop is not True:
+            limit = offset + batchsize
+            attachments_ids = list(Attachment.objects.values_list("id", flat=True)
+                                                     .filter(Q(media_file_basename=None) | Q(media_file_basename=""))
+                                                     .order_by("id")[offset:limit])
+            if attachments_ids:
+                self.stdout.write(_("Updating attachments from #{} to #{}\n").format(
+                    attachments_ids[0],
+                    attachments_ids[-1]))
+
+                Attachment.objects.filter(id__in=attachments_ids)\
+                    .update(media_file_basename=SubstrFromPattern("media_file", pattern="/([^/]+)$"))
+
+                offset += batchsize
+            else:
+                stop = True
diff --git a/onadata/apps/logger/models/attachment.py b/onadata/apps/logger/models/attachment.py
index 6b3106e2e..ed62a852d 100644
--- a/onadata/apps/logger/models/attachment.py
+++ b/onadata/apps/logger/models/attachment.py
@@ -34,33 +34,17 @@ class Attachment(models.Model):
     mimetype = models.CharField(
         max_length=100, null=False, blank=True, default='')
 
-    MEDIA_FILE_BASENAME_PATTERN = re.compile(r'/([^/]+)$')
-
     class Meta:
         app_label = 'logger'
 
-    def _populate_media_file_basename(self):
-        # TODO: write a management command to call this (and save) for all
-        # existing attachments?  For the moment, the `media_file_basename`
-        # column can be populated directly in Postgres using:
-        #   UPDATE logger_attachment
-        #     SET media_file_basename = substring(media_file from '/([^/]+)$');
-        if self.media_file:
-            match = re.search(
-                self.MEDIA_FILE_BASENAME_PATTERN, self.media_file.name)
-            if match:
-                self.media_file_basename = match.groups()[0]
-            else:
-                self.media_file_basename = ''
-
     def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
-        if self.media_file and self.mimetype == '':
-            # guess mimetype
-            mimetype, encoding = mimetypes.guess_type(self.media_file.name)
-            if mimetype:
-                self.mimetype = mimetype
-
-        self._populate_media_file_basename()
+        if self.media_file:
+            self.media_file_basename = self.filename
+            if self.mimetype == '':
+                # guess mimetype
+                mimetype, encoding = mimetypes.guess_type(self.media_file.name)
+                if mimetype:
+                    self.mimetype = mimetype
 
         super(Attachment, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
 
diff --git a/onadata/apps/viewer/views.py b/onadata/apps/viewer/views.py
index 36803438c..820f00cad 100644
--- a/onadata/apps/viewer/views.py
+++ b/onadata/apps/viewer/views.py
@@ -699,7 +699,6 @@ def attachment_url(request, size='medium'):
             media_file_logger.info('attachment not found')
             return HttpResponseNotFound(_(u'Attachment not found'))
 
-
         if not attachment.mimetype.startswith('image'):
             return redirect(attachment.media_file.url)