diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/dates.py b/lib/matplotlib/dates.py
index 0d54c69f90e0..851157704e11 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/dates.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/dates.py
@@ -118,10 +118,10 @@
 import time
 import math
 import datetime
+import string
 
 import warnings
 
-
 from dateutil.rrule import (rrule, MO, TU, WE, TH, FR, SA, SU, YEARLY,
                             MONTHLY, WEEKLY, DAILY, HOURLY, MINUTELY,
                             SECONDLY)
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@
 
 
 __all__ = ('date2num', 'num2date', 'drange', 'epoch2num',
-           'num2epoch', 'mx2num', 'DateFormatter',
+           'num2epoch', 'mx2num', 'TimedeltaFormatter', 'DateFormatter',
            'IndexDateFormatter', 'AutoDateFormatter', 'DateLocator',
            'RRuleLocator', 'AutoDateLocator', 'YearLocator',
            'MonthLocator', 'WeekdayLocator',
@@ -217,6 +217,9 @@ def _to_ordinalf(dt):
         dt = dt.astimezone(UTC)
         tzi = UTC
 
+    if isinstance(dt, datetime.timedelta):
+        return dt.total_seconds() / SEC_PER_DAY
+
     base = float(dt.toordinal())
 
     # If it's sufficiently datetime-like, it will have a `date()` method
@@ -406,6 +409,38 @@ def num2date(x, tz=None):
         return _from_ordinalf_np_vectorized(x, tz).tolist()
 
 
+def _ordinalf_to_timedelta(x):
+    return datetime.timedelta(days=x)
+
+
+_ordinalf_to_timedelta_np_vectorized = np.vectorize(_ordinalf_to_timedelta)
+
+
+def num2timedelta(x):
+    """
+    Converts number of days to a :class:`timdelta` object.
+    If *x* is a sequence, a sequence of :class:`timedelta` objects will
+    be returned.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    x : float, sequence of floats
+        Number of days (fraction part represents hours, minutes, seconds)
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    :class:`timedelta`
+
+    """
+    if not cbook.iterable(x):
+        return _ordinalf_to_timedelta(x)
+    else:
+        x = np.asarray(x)
+        if not x.size:
+            return x
+        return _ordinalf_to_timedelta_np_vectorized(x).tolist()
+
+
 def drange(dstart, dend, delta):
     """
     Return a date range as float Gregorian ordinals.  *dstart* and
@@ -573,6 +608,82 @@ def strftime(self, dt, fmt=None):
         return self.strftime_pre_1900(dt, fmt)
 
 
+class TimedeltaFormatter(ticker.Formatter):
+
+    def __init__(self, fmt):
+        r"""
+        *fmt* is a format string, with accepted format arguments given in the
+        table below. For more information on format strings see
+        https://docs.python.org/3/library/string.html#format-string-syntax
+
+        .. table:: Accepted format arguments
+           :widths: auto
+
+           ========    ============
+           Argument    Meaning
+           ========    ============
+           {D}         Days
+           {H}         Hours
+           {M}         Minutes
+           {S}         Seconds
+           {f}         Microseconds
+           ========    ============
+
+        Examples
+        --------
+        >>> from datetime import timedelta
+        >>> from matplotlib.dates import TimedeltaFormatter
+        >>>
+        >>> dt = timedelta(hours=1, minutes=0, seconds=3)
+        >>> fmt = '{H:02}:{M:02}:{S:02}'
+        >>> formatter = TimedeltaFormatter(fmt)
+        >>> formatter(dt)
+        01:00:03
+        >>>
+        >>> fmt = '{S}'
+        >>> formatter = TimedeltaFormatter(fmt)
+        >>> formatter(dt)
+        3603
+        >>>
+        >>> fmt = '{S}'
+        >>> dt = timedelta(microseconds=1e5)
+        >>> formatter(dt)
+        0.1
+        """
+        self.fmt = fmt
+
+    def __call__(self, x):
+        dt = num2timedelta(x)
+        return self._strfdelta(dt)
+
+    def _strfdelta(self, dt):
+        # A custom method to format timedelta objects. See above for examples
+        formatter = string.Formatter()
+        d = {}
+        allkeys = ['D', 'H', 'M', 'S', 'f']
+        secs = [SEC_PER_DAY, SEC_PER_HOUR, SEC_PER_MIN, 1, 1 / 1e6]
+        # Get list of all keys in the format string
+        keys = list(map(lambda x: x[1], list(formatter.parse(self.fmt))))
+
+        rem = dt.total_seconds()
+        # Cycle through all keys, and if key present in format calculate value
+        # of that key
+        for key, seconds in zip(allkeys, secs):
+            if key in keys:
+                d[key] = rem / seconds
+                _, rem = divmod(rem, seconds)
+
+        # Cycle through and round every entry down to an int APART from the
+        # smallest unit present in format
+        foundlast = False
+        for key in allkeys[::-1]:
+            if key in keys:
+                if foundlast or key == 'f':
+                    d[key] = int(np.floor(d[key]))
+                foundlast = True
+        return formatter.format(self.fmt, **d)
+
+
 class IndexDateFormatter(ticker.Formatter):
     """
     Use with :class:`~matplotlib.ticker.IndexLocator` to cycle format
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dates.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dates.py
index d87ba38edde2..53c5144411bf 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dates.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_dates.py
@@ -457,3 +457,27 @@ def test_DayLocator():
 def test_tz_utc():
     dt = datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1, tzinfo=mdates.UTC)
     dt.tzname()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("x, tdelta",
+                         [(1, datetime.timedelta(days=1)),
+                          ([1, 1.5], [datetime.timedelta(days=1),
+                                      datetime.timedelta(days=1.5)])])
+def test_num2timedelta(x, tdelta):
+    dt = mdates.num2timedelta(x)
+    assert dt == tdelta
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('dt, fmt, out',
+                         [(datetime.timedelta(days=8, hours=1, minutes=2,
+                                              seconds=3, microseconds=4),
+                           '{D}d {H:02}:{M:02}:{S:02}.{f:06}',
+                           '8d 01:02:03.000004'),
+                          (datetime.timedelta(seconds=1), '{f}', '1000000'),
+                          (datetime.timedelta(microseconds=1e5), '{S}', '0.1'),
+                          ])
+def test_TimedeltaFormatter(dt, fmt, out):
+    formatter = mdates.TimedeltaFormatter(fmt)
+    x = mdates.date2num(dt)
+    formatted = formatter(x)
+    assert formatted == out