diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index c0ba5e79d..dd0d09b24 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -123,3 +123,7 @@
 [submodule "externals/aacdec/fdk-aac"]
 	path = externals/aacdec/fdk-aac
 	url = https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/aac
+[submodule "externals/freetype"]
+	path = externals/freetype
+	url = https://github.com/freetype/freetype.git
+	shallow = true
diff --git a/externals/freetype b/externals/freetype
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..b91f75bd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/externals/freetype
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit b91f75bd02db43b06d634591eb286d3eb0ce3b65