diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2c7f20ff93c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "components/bioformats"]
+	path = components/bioformats
+	url = git@dev.loci.wisc.edu:bio-formats.git
diff --git a/components/bioformats b/components/bioformats
new file mode 160000
index 00000000000..c702732d188
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/bioformats
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit c702732d188884b3bb6b8206249abbbaea9c1ca1
diff --git a/etc/omero.properties b/etc/omero.properties
index d07a49b2122..7660c2302df 100644
--- a/etc/omero.properties
+++ b/etc/omero.properties
@@ -298,7 +298,6 @@ omero.ldap.new_user_group=default
 ############################################
 # Library versions
 ############################################
-versions.bio-formats=0875d18
 versions.ome-java=2007-Aug-07-r3052
 ##
 versions.JHotDraw=7.0.9
diff --git a/lib/repository/bio-formats-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/bio-formats-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/jai_imageio-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/jai_imageio-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/loci-common-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/loci-common-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/mdbtools-java-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/mdbtools-java-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/metakit-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/metakit-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/ome-io-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/ome-io-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/ome-xml-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/ome-xml-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/poi-loci-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/poi-loci-0875d18.jar
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diff --git a/lib/repository/scifio-0875d18.jar b/lib/repository/scifio-0875d18.jar
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