diff --git a/platform/android/export/export.cpp b/platform/android/export/export.cpp
index 8ae12b875e8..a9a46840e6f 100644
--- a/platform/android/export/export.cpp
+++ b/platform/android/export/export.cpp
@@ -768,6 +768,10 @@ class EditorExportPlatformAndroid : public EditorExportPlatform {
 		return OK;
 	}
 
+	bool _has_storage_permission(const Vector<String> &p_permissions) {
+		return p_permissions.find("android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE") != -1 || p_permissions.find("android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE") != -1;
+	}
+
 	void _get_permissions(const Ref<EditorExportPreset> &p_preset, bool p_give_internet, Vector<String> &r_permissions) {
 		const char **aperms = android_perms;
 		while (*aperms) {
@@ -819,7 +823,7 @@ class EditorExportPlatformAndroid : public EditorExportPlatform {
 
 		manifest_text += _get_xr_features_tag(p_preset);
 		manifest_text += _get_instrumentation_tag(p_preset);
-		manifest_text += _get_application_tag(p_preset);
+		manifest_text += _get_application_tag(p_preset, _has_storage_permission(perms));
 		manifest_text += "</manifest>\n";
 		String manifest_path = vformat("res://android/build/src/%s/AndroidManifest.xml", (p_debug ? "debug" : "release"));
 
@@ -873,6 +877,7 @@ class EditorExportPlatformAndroid : public EditorExportPlatform {
 		Vector<String> perms;
 		// Write permissions into the perms variable.
 		_get_permissions(p_preset, p_give_internet, perms);
+		bool has_storage_permission = _has_storage_permission(perms);
 
 		while (ofs < (uint32_t)p_manifest.size()) {
 
@@ -968,6 +973,11 @@ class EditorExportPlatformAndroid : public EditorExportPlatform {
 								string_table.write[attr_value] = version_name;
 						}
 
+						if (tname == "application" && attrname == "requestLegacyExternalStorage") {
+
+							encode_uint32(has_storage_permission ? 0xFFFFFFFF : 0, &p_manifest.write[iofs + 16]);
+						}
+
 						if (tname == "instrumentation" && attrname == "targetPackage") {
 							string_table.write[attr_value] = get_package_name(package_name);
 						}
diff --git a/platform/android/export/gradle_export_util.h b/platform/android/export/gradle_export_util.h
index 912984be548..02e484d4499 100644
--- a/platform/android/export/gradle_export_util.h
+++ b/platform/android/export/gradle_export_util.h
@@ -275,13 +275,16 @@ String _get_activity_tag(const Ref<EditorExportPreset> &p_preset) {
 	return manifest_activity_text;
 }
 
-String _get_application_tag(const Ref<EditorExportPreset> &p_preset) {
+String _get_application_tag(const Ref<EditorExportPreset> &p_preset, bool p_has_storage_permission) {
 	bool uses_xr = (int)(p_preset->get("xr_features/xr_mode")) == 1;
-	String manifest_application_text =
+	String manifest_application_text = vformat(
 			"    <application android:label=\"@string/godot_project_name_string\"\n"
 			"        android:allowBackup=\"false\" tools:ignore=\"GoogleAppIndexingWarning\"\n"
+			"        tools:replace=\"android:requestLegacyExternalStorage\" "
+			"        android:requestLegacyExternalStorage=\"%s\"\n"
 			"        android:icon=\"@mipmap/icon\">\n\n"
-			"        <meta-data tools:node=\"remove\" android:name=\"xr_mode_metadata_name\" />\n";
+			"        <meta-data tools:node=\"remove\" android:name=\"xr_mode_metadata_name\" />\n",
+			bool_to_string(p_has_storage_permission));
 
 	if (uses_xr) {
 		manifest_application_text += "        <meta-data tools:node=\"replace\" android:name=\"com.samsung.android.vr.application.mode\" android:value=\"vr_only\" />\n";
diff --git a/platform/android/java/app/AndroidManifest.xml b/platform/android/java/app/AndroidManifest.xml
index eae2be1cfe2..d5d5bcf99f8 100644
--- a/platform/android/java/app/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/platform/android/java/app/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@
     <!-- Any tag in this line after android:icon will be erased when doing custom builds. -->
     <!-- If you want to add tags manually, do before it. -->
     <!-- WARNING: This should stay on a single line until the parsing code is improved. See GH-32414. -->
-    <application android:label="@string/godot_project_name_string" android:allowBackup="false" tools:ignore="GoogleAppIndexingWarning" android:icon="@mipmap/icon" >
+    <!-- TODO: Remove the 'requestLegacyExternalStorage' attribute when https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues/38913 is resolved -->
+    <application android:label="@string/godot_project_name_string" android:allowBackup="false" tools:ignore="GoogleAppIndexingWarning" android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="false" android:icon="@mipmap/icon" >
 
         <!-- Records the version of the Godot editor used for building -->
         <meta-data
diff --git a/platform/android/java/lib/AndroidManifest.xml b/platform/android/java/lib/AndroidManifest.xml
index 2c9f14fbfd3..f6632cfed5c 100644
--- a/platform/android/java/lib/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/platform/android/java/lib/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -4,8 +4,7 @@
     android:versionCode="1"
     android:versionName="1.0">
 
-    <!-- TODO: Remove the 'requestLegacyExternalStorage' attribute when https://github.com/godotengine/godot/issues/38913 is resolved -->
-    <application android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true">
+    <application>
 
         <!-- Records the version of the Godot library -->
         <meta-data