diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e7ae1cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+[submodule "extlibs/lz4"]
+	path = extlibs/lz4
+	url = https://github.com/lz4/lz4.git
+	branch = master
+[submodule "extlibs/zstd"]
+	path = extlibs/zstd
+	url = https://github.com/facebook/zstd.git
+	branch = master
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 58ac4cf..09059e0 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@ init:
 # clone directory
 clone_folder: c:\projects\paxz-wcx
 
-# fetch repository as zip archive
-shallow_clone: true
+# clone only last commit history
+clone_depth: 1
 
 environment:
   matrix:
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ matrix:
 install:
   - call build\appveyor\get-version.bat
   - call build\appveyor\set-env.bat
-  - call build\appveyor\install.bat
+  - git submodule update --depth 1 --init --recursive
 
 #---------------------------------#
 #       build configuration       #
diff --git a/build/appveyor/install.bat b/build/appveyor/install.bat
deleted file mode 100644
index 588225e..0000000
--- a/build/appveyor/install.bat
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-@echo off
-
-set "EXT_LIBS=%APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%\extlibs"
-
-ECHO Install LZ4 project ...
-git clone --depth 1 --branch=master https://github.com/lz4/lz4.git %EXT_LIBS%\lz4
-
-ECHO Install Zstd project ...
-git clone --depth 1 --branch=master https://github.com/facebook/zstd.git %EXT_LIBS%\zstd
diff --git a/extlibs/lz4 b/extlibs/lz4
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..3d67671
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extlibs/lz4
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 3d67671559be723b0912bbee2fcd2eb14783a721
diff --git a/extlibs/zstd b/extlibs/zstd
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..10f0e69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extlibs/zstd
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 10f0e6993f9d2f682da6d04aa2385b7d53cbb4ee