diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 92fa04c41..dfc3ffd35 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ Advanced options:
   ${toggle_error_concealment}     enable this option to get a decoder which is able to conceal losses
   ${toggle_runtime_cpu_detect}    runtime cpu detection
   ${toggle_shared}                shared library support
+  ${toggle_static}                static library support
   ${toggle_small}                 favor smaller size over speed
   ${toggle_postproc_visualizer}   macro block / block level visualizers
 
@@ -153,6 +154,7 @@ enabled doxygen && php -v >/dev/null 2>&1 && enable install_docs
 enable install_bins
 enable install_libs
 
+enable static
 enable optimizations
 enable fast_unaligned #allow unaligned accesses, if supported by hw
 enable md5
@@ -255,6 +257,7 @@ CONFIG_LIST="
     realtime_only
     error_concealment
     shared
+    static
     small
     postproc_visualizer
     os_support
@@ -299,6 +302,7 @@ CMDLINE_SELECT="
     realtime_only
     error_concealment
     shared
+    static
     small
     postproc_visualizer
     experimental
diff --git a/examples.mk b/examples.mk
index ad56ff040..4ebb035d9 100644
--- a/examples.mk
+++ b/examples.mk
@@ -167,8 +167,10 @@ BINS-$(NOT_MSVS)           += $(addprefix $(BUILD_PFX),$(ALL_EXAMPLES:.c=))
 
 # Instantiate linker template for all examples.
 CODEC_LIB=$(if $(CONFIG_DEBUG_LIBS),vpx_g,vpx)
+CODEC_LIB_SUF=$(if $(CONFIG_SHARED),.so,.a)
 $(foreach bin,$(BINS-yes),\
-    $(if $(BUILD_OBJS),$(eval $(bin): $(LIB_PATH)/lib$(CODEC_LIB).a))\
+    $(if $(BUILD_OBJS),$(eval $(bin):\
+        $(LIB_PATH)/lib$(CODEC_LIB)$(CODEC_LIB_SUF)))\
     $(if $(BUILD_OBJS),$(eval $(call linker_template,$(bin),\
         $(call objs,$($(notdir $(bin)).SRCS)) \
         -l$(CODEC_LIB) $(addprefix -l,$(CODEC_EXTRA_LIBS))\
diff --git a/libs.mk b/libs.mk
index ae86fbd9e..47709ba8e 100644
--- a/libs.mk
+++ b/libs.mk
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_SHARED) += $(foreach p,$(VS_PLATFORMS),$(LIBSUBDIR)/$(p)/v
 INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_SHARED) += $(foreach p,$(VS_PLATFORMS),$(LIBSUBDIR)/$(p)/vpx.exp)
 endif
 else
-INSTALL-LIBS-yes += $(LIBSUBDIR)/libvpx.a
+INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_STATIC) += $(LIBSUBDIR)/libvpx.a
 INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_DEBUG_LIBS) += $(LIBSUBDIR)/libvpx_g.a
 endif
 
@@ -177,12 +177,13 @@ endif
 else
 LIBVPX_OBJS=$(call objs,$(CODEC_SRCS))
 OBJS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += $(LIBVPX_OBJS)
-LIBS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX) += $(BUILD_PFX)libvpx.a $(BUILD_PFX)libvpx_g.a
+LIBS-$(CONFIG_STATIC) += $(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)
+LIBS-$(BUILD_LIBVPX_SO) += $(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO)\
+                           $(notdir $(LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS))
 $(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO): $(LIBVPX_OBJS) libvpx.ver
 $(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO): extralibs += -lm
 $(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO): SONAME = libvpx.so.$(VERSION_MAJOR)
@@ -198,9 +199,18 @@ libvpx.ver: $(call enabled,CODEC_EXPORTS)
 	$(qexec)echo "local: *; };" >> $@
 CLEAN-OBJS += libvpx.ver
 
-$(addprefix $(DIST_DIR)/,$(LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS)): $(DIST_DIR)/$(LIBSUBDIR)/$(LIBVPX_SO)
-	@echo "    [LN]      $@"
-	$(qexec)ln -sf $(LIBVPX_SO) $@
+define libvpx_symlink_template
+$(1): $(2)
+	@echo "    [LN]      $$@"
+	$(qexec)ln -sf $(LIBVPX_SO) $$@
+endef
+
+$(eval $(call libvpx_symlink_template,\
+    $(addprefix $(BUILD_PFX),$(notdir $(LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS))),\
+    $(BUILD_PFX)$(LIBVPX_SO)))
+$(eval $(call libvpx_symlink_template,\
+    $(addprefix $(DIST_DIR)/,$(LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS)),\
+    $(DIST_DIR)/$(LIBSUBDIR)/$(LIBVPX_SO)))
 
 INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_SHARED) += $(LIBVPX_SO_SYMLINKS)
 INSTALL-LIBS-$(CONFIG_SHARED) += $(LIBSUBDIR)/$(LIBVPX_SO)