diff --git a/coverage-report/src/test/java/org/jooby/issues/Issue356.java b/coverage-report/src/test/java/org/jooby/issues/Issue356.java
index 068ddc71f9..1182992212 100644
--- a/coverage-report/src/test/java/org/jooby/issues/Issue356.java
+++ b/coverage-report/src/test/java/org/jooby/issues/Issue356.java
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ public class Issue356 extends ServerFeature {
       .etag(true).lastModified(false).maxAge(Duration.ofDays(2)));
 
     assets("/assets/empty.css", new AssetHandler("/")
-      .etag(true).lastModified(true).maxAge(Duration.ofDays(7)));
+      .etag(true).lastModified(true).maxAge("7d"));
   }
 
   @Test
diff --git a/jooby-assets/src/main/java/org/jooby/assets/Assets.java b/jooby-assets/src/main/java/org/jooby/assets/Assets.java
index 02cd7f6240..996f2206b5 100644
--- a/jooby-assets/src/main/java/org/jooby/assets/Assets.java
+++ b/jooby-assets/src/main/java/org/jooby/assets/Assets.java
@@ -18,9 +18,6 @@
  */
 package org.jooby.assets;
 
-import java.time.Duration;
-import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
-
 import org.jooby.Env;
 import org.jooby.Jooby;
 import org.jooby.Router;
@@ -333,10 +330,7 @@ public void configure(final Env env, final Config config, final Binder binder) {
               .cdn(conf.getString("assets.cdn"))
               .lastModified(conf.getBoolean("assets.lastModified"));
 
-      if (conf.hasPath("assets.cache.maxAge")) {
-        handler.maxAge(Duration
-            .ofSeconds(conf.getDuration("assets.cache.maxAge", TimeUnit.SECONDS)));
-      }
+        handler.maxAge(conf.getString("assets.cache.maxAge"));
 
       compiler.patterns().forEach(pattern -> routes.get(pattern, handler));
 
diff --git a/jooby-assets/src/test/java/org/jooby/assets/AssetsTest.java b/jooby-assets/src/test/java/org/jooby/assets/AssetsTest.java
index c6363e6894..602e656d46 100644
--- a/jooby-assets/src/test/java/org/jooby/assets/AssetsTest.java
+++ b/jooby-assets/src/test/java/org/jooby/assets/AssetsTest.java
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ public class AssetsTest {
   public void configure() throws Exception {
     Config conf = ConfigFactory.empty()
         .withValue("application.path", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef("/path"))
-        .withValue("assets.watch", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(false));
+        .withValue("assets.watch", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(false))
+        .withValue("assets.cache.maxAge", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(-1));
     new MockUnit(Env.class, Binder.class, Request.class, Response.class,
         Route.Chain.class).expect(unit -> {
           AssetCompiler compiler = unit.constructor(AssetCompiler.class)
@@ -95,7 +96,8 @@ public void configure() throws Exception {
   public void configureWithWatch() throws Exception {
     Config conf = ConfigFactory.empty()
         .withValue("application.path", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef("/"))
-        .withValue("assets.watch", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(true));
+        .withValue("assets.watch", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(true))
+        .withValue("assets.cache.maxAge", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(-1));
     new MockUnit(Env.class, Binder.class, Request.class, Response.class,
         Route.Chain.class).expect(unit -> {
           AssetCompiler compiler = unit.constructor(AssetCompiler.class)
@@ -161,7 +163,8 @@ public void configureWithWatch() throws Exception {
   public void configureWithoutWatch() throws Exception {
     Config conf = ConfigFactory.empty()
         .withValue("application.path", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef("/"))
-        .withValue("assets.watch", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(false));
+        .withValue("assets.watch", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(false))
+        .withValue("assets.cache.maxAge", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(-1));
     new MockUnit(Env.class, Binder.class, Request.class, Response.class,
         Route.Chain.class).expect(unit -> {
           AssetCompiler compiler = unit.constructor(AssetCompiler.class)
diff --git a/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/Jooby.java b/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/Jooby.java
index 77778bb582..2efd5af860 100644
--- a/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/Jooby.java
+++ b/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/Jooby.java
@@ -1712,7 +1712,8 @@ public Route.Definition assets(final String path, final String location) {
       handler
           .cdn(conf.getString("assets.cdn"))
           .lastModified(conf.getBoolean("assets.lastModified"))
-          .etag(conf.getBoolean("assets.etag"));
+          .etag(conf.getBoolean("assets.etag"))
+          .maxAge(conf.getString("assets.cache.maxAge"));
     });
     return assets(path, handler);
   }
diff --git a/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/handlers/AssetHandler.java b/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/handlers/AssetHandler.java
index 7a2e0885b7..37bf5e3881 100644
--- a/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/handlers/AssetHandler.java
+++ b/jooby/src/main/java/org/jooby/handlers/AssetHandler.java
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 import java.time.Duration;
 import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.Map;
-import java.util.Optional;
 
 import org.jooby.Asset;
 import org.jooby.Jooby;
@@ -40,9 +39,12 @@
 import org.jooby.internal.URLAsset;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Strings;
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigFactory;
+import com.typesafe.config.ConfigValueFactory;
 
 import javaslang.Function1;
 import javaslang.Function2;
+import javaslang.control.Try;
 
 /**
  * Serve static resources, via {@link Jooby#assets(String)} or variants.
@@ -94,7 +96,7 @@ public class AssetHandler implements Route.Handler {
 
   private boolean etag = true;
 
-  private Optional<Duration> maxAge = Optional.empty();
+  private long maxAge = -1;
 
   private boolean lastModified = true;
 
@@ -191,8 +193,7 @@ public AssetHandler cdn(final String cdn) {
    * @return This handler.
    */
   public AssetHandler maxAge(final Duration maxAge) {
-    this.maxAge = Optional.of(maxAge);
-    return this;
+    return maxAge(maxAge.getSeconds());
   }
 
   /**
@@ -200,7 +201,25 @@ public AssetHandler maxAge(final Duration maxAge) {
    * @return This handler.
    */
   public AssetHandler maxAge(final long maxAge) {
-    return maxAge(Duration.ofSeconds(maxAge));
+    this.maxAge = maxAge;
+    return this;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Parse value as {@link Duration}. If the value is already a number then it uses as seconds.
+   * Otherwise, it parse expressions like: 8m, 1h, 365d, etc...
+   *
+   * @param maxAge Set the cache header max-age value in seconds.
+   * @return This handler.
+   */
+  public AssetHandler maxAge(final String maxAge) {
+    Try.of(() -> Long.parseLong(maxAge))
+        .recover(x -> ConfigFactory.empty()
+            .withValue("v", ConfigValueFactory.fromAnyRef(maxAge))
+            .getDuration("v")
+            .getSeconds())
+        .onSuccess(this::maxAge);
+    return this;
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -263,9 +282,9 @@ private void doHandle(final Request req, final Response rsp, final Asset asset)
     }
 
     // cache max-age
-    maxAge.ifPresent(d -> {
-      rsp.header("Cache-Control", "max-age=" + d.getSeconds());
-    });
+    if (maxAge > 0) {
+      rsp.header("Cache-Control", "max-age=" + maxAge);
+    }
 
     send(req, rsp, asset);
   }
diff --git a/jooby/src/test/java/org/jooby/JoobyTest.java b/jooby/src/test/java/org/jooby/JoobyTest.java
index fed9799dcf..17f0bfc58b 100644
--- a/jooby/src/test/java/org/jooby/JoobyTest.java
+++ b/jooby/src/test/java/org/jooby/JoobyTest.java
@@ -2091,6 +2091,7 @@ public void assets() throws Exception {
           expect(conf.getString("assets.cdn")).andReturn("").times(2);
           expect(conf.getBoolean("assets.lastModified")).andReturn(true).times(2);
           expect(conf.getBoolean("assets.etag")).andReturn(true).times(2);
+          expect(conf.getString("assets.cache.maxAge")).andReturn("-1").times(2);
 
           Injector injector = unit.get(Injector.class);
           expect(injector.getInstance(Key.get(Config.class))).andReturn(conf).times(2);