diff --git a/build/make/Makefile b/build/make/Makefile
index 6dd1279fc..ba2578e93 100755
--- a/build/make/Makefile
+++ b/build/make/Makefile
@@ -220,6 +220,20 @@ $(1):
 	$(qexec)$$(AR) $$(ARFLAGS) $$@ $$?
 endef
 
+define so_template
+# Not using a pattern rule here because we don't want to generate empty
+# archives when they are listed as a dependency in files not responsible
+# for creating them.
+#
+# This needs further abstraction for dealing with non-GNU linkers.
+$(1):
+	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [LD] $$@")
+	$(qexec)$$(LD) -shared $$(LDFLAGS) \
+            -Wl,--no-undefined -Wl,-soname,$$(SONAME) \
+            -Wl,--version-script,$$(SO_VERSION_SCRIPT) -o $$@ \
+            $$(filter %.o,$$?)
+endef
+
 define lipo_lib_template
 $(1): $(addsuffix /$(1),$(FAT_ARCHS))
 	$(if $(quiet),@echo "    [LIPO] $$@")
@@ -283,6 +297,7 @@ LIBS=$(call enabled,LIBS)
 .libs: $(LIBS)
 	@touch $@
 $(foreach lib,$(filter %_g.a,$(LIBS)),$(eval $(call archive_template,$(lib))))
+$(foreach lib,$(filter %so.$(VERSION_MAJOR).$(VERSION_MINOR).$(VERSION_PATCH),$(LIBS)),$(eval $(call so_template,$(lib))))
 
 INSTALL-LIBS=$(call cond_enabled,CONFIG_INSTALL_LIBS,INSTALL-LIBS)
 ifeq ($(MAKECMDGOALS),dist)
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index d7d041c27..f2b42bef4 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ Advanced options:
   ${toggle_spatial_resampling}    spatial sampling (scaling) support
   ${toggle_realtime_only}         enable this option while building for real-time encoding
   ${toggle_runtime_cpu_detect}    runtime cpu detection
+  ${toggle_shared}                shared library support
 
 Codecs:
   Codecs can be selectively enabled or disabled individually, or by family:
@@ -242,6 +243,7 @@ CONFIG_LIST="
     static_msvcrt
     spatial_resampling
     realtime_only
+    shared
 "
 CMDLINE_SELECT="
     extra_warnings
@@ -280,6 +282,7 @@ CMDLINE_SELECT="
     mem_tracker
     spatial_resampling
     realtime_only
+    shared
 "
 
 process_cmdline() {
@@ -369,6 +372,12 @@ process_targets() {
     if [ -f "${source_path}/build/make/version.sh" ]; then
         local ver=`"$source_path/build/make/version.sh" --bare $source_path`
         DIST_DIR="${DIST_DIR}-${ver}"
+        ver=${ver%%-*}
+        VERSION_PATCH=${ver##*.}
+        ver=${ver%.*}
+        VERSION_MINOR=${ver##*.}
+        ver=${ver#v}
+        VERSION_MAJOR=${ver%.*}
     fi
     enabled child || cat <<EOF >> config.mk
 ifeq (\$(MAKECMDGOALS),dist)
@@ -377,6 +386,11 @@ else
 DIST_DIR?=\$(DESTDIR)${prefix}
 endif
 LIBSUBDIR=${libdir##${prefix}/}
+
+VERSION_MAJOR=${VERSION_MAJOR}
+VERSION_MINOR=${VERSION_MINOR}
+VERSION_PATCH=${VERSION_PATCH}
+
 EOF
     enabled child || echo "CONFIGURE_ARGS?=${CONFIGURE_ARGS}" >> config.mk
 
@@ -396,6 +410,12 @@ EOF
 }
 
 process_detect() {
+    if enabled shared; then
+        # Can only build shared libs on a subset of platforms. Doing this check
+        # here rather than at option parse time because the target auto-detect
+        # magic happens after the command line has been parsed.
+	enabled linux || die "--enable-shared only supported on ELF for now"
+    fi
     if [ -z "$CC" ]; then
         echo "Bypassing toolchain for environment detection."
         enable external_build
diff --git a/libs.mk b/libs.mk
index be237a137..c6b08d21b 100644
--- a/libs.mk
+++ b/libs.mk
@@ -92,7 +92,9 @@ CODEC_SRCS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += vpx_ports/x86.h
 CODEC_SRCS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += vpx_ports/x86_abi_support.asm
 endif
 CODEC_SRCS-$(ARCH_ARM) += $(BUILD_PFX)vpx_config.asm
-CODEC_EXPORTS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += vpx/exports
+CODEC_EXPORTS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += vpx/exports_com
+CODEC_EXPORTS-$(CONFIG_ENCODERS) += vpx/exports_enc
+CODEC_EXPORTS-$(CONFIG_DECODERS) += vpx/exports_dec
 
 INSTALL-LIBS-yes += include/vpx/vpx_codec.h
 INSTALL-LIBS-yes += include/vpx/vpx_image.h
@@ -175,6 +177,31 @@ LIBVPX_OBJS=$(call objs,$(CODEC_SRCS))
 OBJS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += $(LIBVPX_OBJS)
 LIBS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += $(BUILD_PFX)libvpx.a $(BUILD_PFX)libvpx_g.a
 $(BUILD_PFX)libvpx_g.a: $(LIBVPX_OBJS)
+
+BUILD_LIBVPX_SO         := $(if $(BUILD_LIBVPX),$(CONFIG_SHARED))
+LIBVPX_SO               := libvpx.so.$(VERSION_MAJOR).$(VERSION_MINOR).$(VERSION_PATCH)
+LIBS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX_SO) += $(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO)
+$(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO): $(LIBVPX_OBJS) libvpx.ver
+$(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO): LDFLAGS += -lm -pthread
+$(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO): SONAME = libvpx.so.$(VERSION_MAJOR)
+$(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO): SO_VERSION_SCRIPT = libvpx.ver
+LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS      := $(addprefix $(LIBSUBDIR)/, \
+                             libvpx.so libvpx.so.$(VERSION_MAJOR) \
+                             libvpx.so.$(VERSION_MAJOR).$(VERSION_MINOR))
+
+libvpx.ver: $(call enabled,CODEC_EXPORTS)
+	@echo "    [CREATE] $@"
+	$(qexec)echo "{ global:" > $@
+	$(qexec)for f in $?; do awk '{print $$2";"}' < $$f >>$@; done
+	$(qexec)echo "local: *; };" >> $@
+CLEAN-OBJS += libvpx.ver
+
+$(addprefix $(DIST_DIR)/,$(LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS)):
+	@echo "    [LN]      $@"
+	$(qexec)ln -sf $(LIBVPX_SO) $@
+
+INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_SHARED) += $(LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS)
+INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_SHARED) += $(LIBSUBDIR)/$(LIBVPX_SO)
 endif
 
 LIBS-$(LIPO_LIBVPX) += libvpx.a
diff --git a/vp8/exports_dec b/vp8/exports_dec
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9b985c86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vp8/exports_dec
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+data vpx_codec_vp8_dx_algo
diff --git a/vp8/exports_enc b/vp8/exports_enc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..996701113
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vp8/exports_enc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+data vpx_codec_vp8_cx_algo
diff --git a/vp8/vp8cx.mk b/vp8/vp8cx.mk
index a512ff910..544a3b3fa 100644
--- a/vp8/vp8cx.mk
+++ b/vp8/vp8cx.mk
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 
 
 include $(SRC_PATH_BARE)/$(VP8_PREFIX)vp8_common.mk
+
+VP8_CX_EXPORTS += exports_enc
+
 VP8_CX_SRCS-yes += $(VP8_COMMON_SRCS-yes)
 VP8_CX_SRCS-no  += $(VP8_COMMON_SRCS-no)
 VP8_CX_SRCS_REMOVE-yes += $(VP8_COMMON_SRCS_REMOVE-yes)
diff --git a/vp8/vp8dx.mk b/vp8/vp8dx.mk
index 44b4b495d..24f18b7cd 100644
--- a/vp8/vp8dx.mk
+++ b/vp8/vp8dx.mk
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@
 
 
 include $(SRC_PATH_BARE)/$(VP8_PREFIX)vp8_common.mk
+
+VP8_DX_EXPORTS += exports_dec
+
 VP8_DX_SRCS-yes += $(VP8_COMMON_SRCS-yes)
 VP8_DX_SRCS-no  += $(VP8_COMMON_SRCS-no)
 VP8_DX_SRCS_REMOVE-yes += $(VP8_COMMON_SRCS_REMOVE-yes)
diff --git a/vpx/exports b/vpx/exports
deleted file mode 100644
index f5e7473bc..000000000
--- a/vpx/exports
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-text vpx_dec_control
-text vpx_dec_decode
-text vpx_dec_destroy
-text vpx_dec_err_to_string
-text vpx_dec_error
-text vpx_dec_error_detail
-text vpx_dec_get_caps
-text vpx_dec_get_frame
-text vpx_dec_get_mem_map
-text vpx_dec_get_stream_info
-text vpx_dec_iface_name
-text vpx_dec_init_ver
-text vpx_dec_peek_stream_info
-text vpx_dec_register_put_frame_cb
-text vpx_dec_register_put_slice_cb
-text vpx_dec_set_mem_map
-text vpx_dec_xma_init_ver
diff --git a/vpx/exports_com b/vpx/exports_com
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2ab05099f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vpx/exports_com
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+text vpx_codec_build_config
+text vpx_codec_control_
+text vpx_codec_destroy
+text vpx_codec_err_to_string
+text vpx_codec_error
+text vpx_codec_error_detail
+text vpx_codec_get_caps
+text vpx_codec_iface_name
+text vpx_codec_version
+text vpx_codec_version_extra_str
+text vpx_codec_version_str
+text vpx_img_alloc
+text vpx_img_flip
+text vpx_img_free
+text vpx_img_set_rect
+text vpx_img_wrap
diff --git a/vpx/exports_dec b/vpx/exports_dec
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ed121f7ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vpx/exports_dec
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+text vpx_codec_dec_init_ver
+text vpx_codec_decode
+text vpx_codec_get_frame
+text vpx_codec_get_mem_map
+text vpx_codec_get_stream_info
+text vpx_codec_peek_stream_info
+text vpx_codec_register_put_frame_cb
+text vpx_codec_register_put_slice_cb
+text vpx_codec_set_mem_map
diff --git a/vpx/exports_enc b/vpx/exports_enc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3d5674926
--- /dev/null
+++ b/vpx/exports_enc
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+text vpx_codec_enc_config_default
+text vpx_codec_enc_config_set
+text vpx_codec_enc_init_ver
+text vpx_codec_encode
+text vpx_codec_get_cx_data
+text vpx_codec_get_global_headers
+text vpx_codec_get_preview_frame
+text vpx_codec_set_cx_data_buf