diff --git a/src/external/e57.cmake b/src/external/e57.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e004b573a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/external/e57.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+# Copyright 2019, 2020, Collabora, Ltd.
+# Copyright 2019, 2020, 2021 Visual Computing Lab, ISTI - Italian National Research Council
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSL-1.0
+
+option(ALLOW_BUNDLED_LIBE57_FORMAT "Allow use of bundled libE57Format source" ON)
+option(ALLOW_SYSTEM_LIBE57_FORMAT "Allow use of system-provided libE57Format" ON)
+
+set(E57Format_DIR ${EXTERNAL_DIR}/e57)
+
+if(ALLOW_SYSTEM_LIBE57_FORMAT AND TARGET E57Format::E57Format)
+
+    message(STATUS "- libE57Format - using system-provided library")
+    add_library(external-libE57Format INTERFACE)
+    target_link_libraries(external-libE57Format INTERFACE E57Format::E57Format)
+
+elseif(ALLOW_BUNDLED_LIBE57_FORMAT)
+
+    message(STATUS "- libE57Format - using bundled source")
+
+    add_library(
+            external-libE57Format STATIC
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/BlobNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/BlobNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CheckedFile.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CheckedFile.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Common.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Common.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CompressedVectorNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CompressedVectorNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CompressedVectorReaderImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CompressedVectorReaderImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CompressedVectorWriterImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/CompressedVectorWriterImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/DecodeChannel.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/DecodeChannel.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Decoder.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Decoder.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Encoder.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Encoder.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/FloatNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/FloatNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/IntegerNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/IntegerNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/NodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/NodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Packet.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/Packet.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/ImageFileImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/ImageFileImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/ReaderImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/ReaderImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/ScaledIntegerNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/ScaledIntegerNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/SectionHeaders.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/SectionHeaders.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/SourceDestBufferImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/SourceDestBufferImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/StringNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/StringNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/StructureNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/StructureNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/VectorNodeImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/VectorNodeImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/WriterImpl.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/WriterImpl.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57Exception.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57Format.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57SimpleData.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57SimpleReader.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57SimpleWriter.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57Version.h
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57XmlParser.cpp
+            ${E57Format_DIR}/src/E57XmlParser.h
+    )
+    target_include_directories(external-libE57Format SYSTEM PUBLIC "${E57Format_DIR}")
+    target_compile_definitions(external-libE57Format PUBLIC LIBE57_FORMAT_STATIC)
+    set_property(TARGET external-libE57Format PROPERTY FOLDER External)
+    target_link_libraries(external-libE57Format PRIVATE external-disable-warnings)
+endif()
diff --git a/src/external/external.cmake b/src/external/external.cmake
index 3f94c8065..99f2a0c48 100644
--- a/src/external/external.cmake
+++ b/src/external/external.cmake
@@ -28,3 +28,6 @@ include(${EXTERNAL_DIR}/qhull.cmake)
 
 # u3d - optional, for io_u3d
 include(${EXTERNAL_DIR}/u3d.cmake)
+
+# libe57Format - optional, for io_e57
+include(${EXTERNAL_DIR}/e57.cmake)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/meshlabplugins/io_e57/CMakeLists.txt b/src/meshlabplugins/io_e57/CMakeLists.txt
index 083d0630a..23556348a 100644
--- a/src/meshlabplugins/io_e57/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/meshlabplugins/io_e57/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
 # Copyright 2019-2020, Collabora, Ltd.
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSL-1.0
 
+if (TARGET external-libE57Format)
 
-set(SOURCES io_e57.cpp)
+    set(SOURCES io_e57.cpp)
+    set(HEADERS io_e57.h)
 
-set(HEADERS io_e57.h)
+    add_meshlab_plugin(io_e57 ${SOURCES} ${HEADERS})
 
-add_meshlab_plugin(io_e57 ${SOURCES} ${HEADERS})
+else()
+    message(STATUS "Skipping io_e57 - missing libE57Format in external directory as well as on system.")
+endif()
\ No newline at end of file