diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutor.java
index 54372cd726f..e46d091d657 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutor.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutor.java
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
 import org.testcontainers.UnstableAPI;
 
+import java.util.ServiceLoader;
 import java.util.function.Function;
+import java.util.stream.StreamSupport;
 
 /**
  * An image name substitutor converts a Docker image name, as may be specified in code, to an alternative name.
@@ -25,26 +27,19 @@ public abstract class ImageNameSubstitutor implements Function<DockerImageName,
     static ImageNameSubstitutor defaultImplementation = new DefaultImageNameSubstitutor();
 
     public static synchronized ImageNameSubstitutor instance() {
+        return instance(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader());
+    }
+
+    @VisibleForTesting
+    static synchronized ImageNameSubstitutor instance(ClassLoader classLoader) {
         if (instance == null) {
-            final String configuredClassName = TestcontainersConfiguration.getInstance().getImageSubstitutorClassName();
-
-            if (configuredClassName != null) {
-                log.debug("Attempting to instantiate an ImageNameSubstitutor with class: {}", configuredClassName);
-                ImageNameSubstitutor configuredInstance;
-                try {
-                    configuredInstance =
-                        (ImageNameSubstitutor) Thread
-                            .currentThread()
-                            .getContextClassLoader()
-                            .loadClass(configuredClassName)
-                            .getConstructor()
-                            .newInstance();
-                } catch (Exception e) {
-                    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-                        "Configured Image Substitutor could not be loaded: " + configuredClassName,
-                        e
-                    );
-                }
+            ImageNameSubstitutor configuredInstance = getImageNameSubstitutor(classLoader);
+
+            if (configuredInstance != null) {
+                log.debug(
+                    "Attempting to instantiate an ImageNameSubstitutor with class: {}",
+                    configuredInstance.getClass().getCanonicalName()
+                );
 
                 log.info("Found configured ImageNameSubstitutor: {}", configuredInstance.getDescription());
 
@@ -63,6 +58,26 @@ public static synchronized ImageNameSubstitutor instance() {
         return instance;
     }
 
+    private static ImageNameSubstitutor getImageNameSubstitutor(ClassLoader classLoader) {
+        final String configuredClassName = TestcontainersConfiguration.getInstance().getImageSubstitutorClassName();
+
+        if (configuredClassName != null) {
+            try {
+                return (ImageNameSubstitutor) classLoader.loadClass(configuredClassName).getConstructor().newInstance();
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                    "Configured Image Substitutor could not be loaded: " + configuredClassName,
+                    e
+                );
+            }
+        }
+
+        return StreamSupport
+            .stream(ServiceLoader.load(ImageNameSubstitutor.class, classLoader).spliterator(), false)
+            .findFirst()
+            .orElse(null);
+    }
+
     public static ImageNameSubstitutor noop() {
         return new NoopImageNameSubstitutor();
     }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutorTest.java b/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutorTest.java
index 0f5a747c359..6c29e26c58f 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutorTest.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutorTest.java
@@ -4,15 +4,27 @@
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Rule;
 import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.rules.TemporaryFolder;
 import org.mockito.Mockito;
 import org.testcontainers.containers.GenericContainer;
 
+import java.io.FileWriter;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.net.URLClassLoader;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
+
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
 import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;
 import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.eq;
 
 public class ImageNameSubstitutorTest {
 
+    @Rule
+    public TemporaryFolder tempFolder = new TemporaryFolder();
+
     @Rule
     public MockTestcontainersConfigurationRule config = new MockTestcontainersConfigurationRule();
 
@@ -81,4 +93,47 @@ public void testImageNameSubstitutorToString() {
                 );
         }
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testImageNameSubstitutorFromServiceLoader() throws IOException {
+        Path tempDir = this.tempFolder.newFolder("image-name-substitutor-test").toPath();
+        Path metaInfDir = Paths.get(tempDir.toString(), "META-INF", "services");
+        Files.createDirectories(metaInfDir);
+
+        createClassFile(tempDir, "org/testcontainers/utility/ImageNameSubstitutor.class", ImageNameSubstitutor.class);
+        createClassFile(tempDir, "org/testcontainers/utility/FakeImageSubstitutor.class", FakeImageSubstitutor.class);
+
+        // Create service provider configuration file
+        createServiceProviderFile(
+            metaInfDir,
+            "org.testcontainers.utility.ImageNameSubstitutor",
+            "org.testcontainers.utility.FakeImageSubstitutor"
+        );
+
+        URL[] urls = { tempDir.toUri().toURL() };
+        URLClassLoader classLoader = new URLClassLoader(urls, ImageNameSubstitutorTest.class.getClassLoader());
+
+        final ImageNameSubstitutor imageNameSubstitutor = ImageNameSubstitutor.instance(classLoader);
+
+        DockerImageName result = imageNameSubstitutor.apply(DockerImageName.parse("original"));
+        assertThat(result.asCanonicalNameString())
+            .as("the image has been substituted by default then configured implementations")
+            .isEqualTo("transformed-substituted-image:latest");
+    }
+
+    private void createClassFile(Path tempDir, String classFilePath, Class<?> clazz) throws IOException {
+        Path classFile = Paths.get(tempDir.toString(), classFilePath);
+        Files.createDirectories(classFile.getParent());
+        Files.copy(clazz.getResourceAsStream("/" + classFilePath), classFile);
+    }
+
+    private void createServiceProviderFile(Path metaInfDir, String serviceInterface, String... implementations)
+        throws IOException {
+        Path serviceFile = Paths.get(metaInfDir.toString(), serviceInterface);
+        try (FileWriter writer = new FileWriter(serviceFile.toFile())) {
+            for (String impl : implementations) {
+                writer.write(impl + "\n");
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }
diff --git a/docs/features/image_name_substitution.md b/docs/features/image_name_substitution.md
index cf2b09d3d8e..0948e9fa2c7 100644
--- a/docs/features/image_name_substitution.md
+++ b/docs/features/image_name_substitution.md
@@ -125,6 +125,13 @@ Note that it is also possible to provide this same configuration property:
 
 Please see [the documentation on configuration mechanisms](./configuration.md) for more information.
 
+Also, you can use the `ServiceLoader` mechanism to provide the fully qualified class name of the `ImageNameSubstitutor` implementation:
+
+=== "`src/test/resources/META-INF/services/org.testcontainers.utility.ImageNameSubstitutor`"
+    ```text
+    com.mycompany.testcontainers.ExampleImageNameSubstitutor
+    ```
+
 
 ## Overriding image names individually in configuration