Sheriff court cases will take a decade just to return to pre-pandemic levels without significant government funding, MSPs were warned.
The backlog was already at 14,000 before lockdown but is expected to nearly double to 27,000 cases by the end of the month.
Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service chief executive Eric McQueen said: "We now have our full programme of courts back up and running as of August – that’s running about 33 trial courts a day.
"What we would see is a gradual reduction in that backlog of about 2,000 a year but just simply running 33 trial courts a day would take a period of eight to 10 years to come back to the pre-Covid levels."
McQueen, speaking to members of Holyrood's justice committee, said discussions are continuing with the Scottish Government to provide the funding for a 25% increase in capacity in sheriff jury trials to help deal with the backlog, which he said would reduce the backlog in just three years.
Another measure being looked at is the running of trial courts at the weekends, which Mr McQueen said would wipe out the backlog in two years.
He added: "All of these things have an impact on not just the court but on prosecutors, defence and third-sector organisations, and as you can imagine there'll need to be quite significant discussions over the next short number of weeks and months to find the best solution that meets the needs and the resources that are available to all the organisations."
Around 390 jury trials were waiting to be heard at the high courts before lockdown. That figure is expected to increase to about 750 by the end of this month and, dependent on what mitigation is put in place, could rise to as high as ,400 in the next few years.
McQueen called for an increase in capacity to make sure that trials are heard, including increasing the number of jury courts in Scotland from 16 to 25.
He added: "If we were able to do that, we would reduce the backlogs in the high court and bring that back to normal within two years."
Last week, the SCTS announced plans to host juries in cinemas, where they will hear trials remotely, in a bid to ensure cases can be heard promptly.
