--- a/extern/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/extern/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,7 +32,9 @@ if(WITH_BULLET)
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_DRACO)
-  add_subdirectory(draco)
+  if(NOT WITH_SYSTEM_DRACO)
+    add_subdirectory(draco)
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 if(WITH_BINRELOC)
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -475,6 +475,10 @@ if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
   option(WITH_SYSTEM_LZO "Use the system LZO library" OFF)
 endif()
 option(WITH_DRACO "Enable Draco mesh compression Python module (used for glTF)" ON)
+if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
+  option(WITH_SYSTEM_DRACO "Use the system DRACO library" OFF)
+  mark_as_advanced(WITH_SYSTEM_DRACO)
+endif()
 
 # Camera/motion tracking
 option(WITH_LIBMV "Enable Libmv structure from motion library" ON)
@@ -1087,11 +1087,6 @@ set_and_warn_dependency(WITH_PYTHON WITH
 set_and_warn_dependency(WITH_PYTHON WITH_DRACO         OFF)
 set_and_warn_dependency(WITH_PYTHON WITH_MOD_FLUID     OFF)
 
-if(WITH_DRACO AND NOT WITH_PYTHON_INSTALL)
-  message(STATUS "WITH_DRACO requires WITH_PYTHON_INSTALL to be ON, disabling WITH_DRACO for now")
-  set(WITH_DRACO OFF)
-endif()
-
 # enable boost for cycles, audaspace or i18n
 # otherwise if the user disabled
 
--- a/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/source/creator/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
     endif()
   endif()
 
-  if(WITH_DRACO)
+  if(WITH_DRACO AND NOT WITH_SYSTEM_DRACO)
     install(
       PROGRAMS $<TARGET_FILE:extern_draco>
       DESTINATION ${TARGETDIR_VER}/python/lib/python${PYTHON_VERSION}/site-packages
@@ -1361,7 +1361,7 @@ elseif(WIN32)
     )
   endif()
 
-  if(WITH_DRACO)
+  if(WITH_DRACO AND NOT WITH_SYSTEM_DRACO)
     install(
       PROGRAMS $<TARGET_FILE:extern_draco>
       DESTINATION ${TARGETDIR_VER}/python/lib/site-packages