diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a158cd439..ef1c86190 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -21,7 +21,9 @@ Compared to other Protocol Buffers implementations, `prost`
 * Respects the Protobuf `package` specifier when organizing generated code
   into Rust modules.
 * Preserves unknown enum values during deserialization.
-* Does not include support for runtime reflection or message descriptors.
+* Does not include support for runtime reflection or message descriptors, but
+  allows encoded `FileDescriptorSet` messages to be saved alongside generated
+  code for use of consumers.
 
 ## Using `prost` in a Cargo Project
 
@@ -58,6 +60,12 @@ package foo.bar;
 
 All Rust types generated from the file will be in the `foo::bar` module.
 
+If the `include_file_descriptor_set` option is set on the `prost_build::Config`
+for the invocation of `prost_build`, an additional file named `file_descriptor_set.bin`
+will be written to the output directory. This can be used in conjunction with the
+`include_bytes` macro, and decoded using the `FileDescriptorSet` type from the
+`prost-types` crate in applications or libraries using Prost.
+
 ### Messages
 
 Given a simple message declaration:
diff --git a/prost-build/src/lib.rs b/prost-build/src/lib.rs
index 521b2d2a2..3e81be3ae 100644
--- a/prost-build/src/lib.rs
+++ b/prost-build/src/lib.rs
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ use std::env;
 use std::ffi::{OsStr, OsString};
 use std::fmt;
 use std::fs;
-use std::io::{Error, ErrorKind, Result};
+use std::io::{Error, ErrorKind, Result, Write};
 use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
 use std::process::Command;
 
@@ -183,6 +183,7 @@ pub trait ServiceGenerator {
 ///
 /// This configuration builder can be used to set non-default code generation options.
 pub struct Config {
+    include_file_descriptor_set: bool,
     service_generator: Option<Box<dyn ServiceGenerator>>,
     btree_map: Vec<String>,
     bytes: Vec<String>,
@@ -522,6 +523,15 @@ impl Config {
         self
     }
 
+    /// Configures the code generator to output the encoded bytes of the `FileDescriptorSet`
+    /// for this `protoc` invocation to a file named `file_descriptor_set.bin` in the configured
+    /// output directory. This can be used in conjunction with the `include_bytes!` macro and
+    /// the types in the `prost-types` crate for implementing some reflection capabilities.
+    pub fn include_file_descriptor_set(&mut self) -> &mut Self {
+        self.include_file_descriptor_set = true;
+        self
+    }
+
     /// Configures the code generator to not strip the enum name from variant names.
     ///
     /// Protobuf enum definitions commonly include the enum name as a prefix of every variant name.
@@ -644,6 +654,12 @@ impl Config {
             )
         })?;
 
+        if self.include_file_descriptor_set {
+            let filename = target.join("file_descriptor_set.bin");
+            let mut file = std::fs::File::create(filename)?;
+            file.write_all(&buf)?;
+        }
+
         let modules = self.generate(descriptor_set.file)?;
         for (module, content) in modules {
             let mut filename = module.join(".");
@@ -710,6 +726,7 @@ impl Config {
 impl default::Default for Config {
     fn default() -> Config {
         Config {
+            include_file_descriptor_set: false,
             service_generator: None,
             btree_map: Vec::new(),
             bytes: Vec::new(),