diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 07d1d4ef7..fb859c87d 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -102,3 +102,6 @@
 [submodule "externals/LibAtrac9"]
 	path = externals/LibAtrac9
 	url = https://github.com/shadps4-emu/ext-LibAtrac9.git
+[submodule "externals/libpng"]
+	path = externals/libpng
+	url = https://github.com/pnggroup/libpng
diff --git a/externals/CMakeLists.txt b/externals/CMakeLists.txt
index 17d710878..0d00a078c 100644
--- a/externals/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/externals/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -153,6 +153,23 @@ if (NOT TARGET half::half)
     add_library(half::half ALIAS half)
 endif()
 
+# libpng
+set(PNG_SHARED ON CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
+set(PNG_STATIC OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
+set(PNG_EXECUTABLES OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE) 
+set(PNG_TESTS OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE) 
+set(PNG_TOOLS OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE) 
+set(SKIP_INSTALL_ALL OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
+set(ZLIB_LIBRARY STRING "${INSTALL_DIR}/lib/zlib-ng.lib" FORCE)
+set(ZLIB_INCLUDE_DIR STRING "${INSTALL_DIR}/include" FORCE)
+
+include_directories(libpng)
+# generated files from libpng during build
+include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/libpng)
+
+add_subdirectory(libpng)
+
+
 if (APPLE)
     # date
     if (NOT TARGET date::date-tz)
diff --git a/externals/libpng b/externals/libpng
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..c1cc0f3f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/externals/libpng
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit c1cc0f3f4c3d4abd11ca68c59446a29ff6f95003