diff --git a/package/binutils/Config.in.host b/package/binutils/Config.in.host
index d0ed84e059..4049cf6a3e 100644
--- a/package/binutils/Config.in.host
+++ b/package/binutils/Config.in.host
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ config BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION
 	default "2.24"		if BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_24
 	default "2.25"		if BR2_BINUTILS_VERSION_2_25
 
+config BR2_BINUTILS_ENABLE_LTO
+	bool
+
 config BR2_BINUTILS_EXTRA_CONFIG_OPTIONS
 	string "Additional binutils options"
 	default ""
diff --git a/package/binutils/binutils.mk b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
index 9e992533f3..ac62f1f0d2 100644
--- a/package/binutils/binutils.mk
+++ b/package/binutils/binutils.mk
@@ -96,5 +96,9 @@ BINUTILS_PRE_PATCH_HOOKS += BINUTILS_XTENSA_PRE_PATCH
 HOST_BINUTILS_PRE_PATCH_HOOKS += BINUTILS_XTENSA_PRE_PATCH
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_BINUTILS_ENABLE_LTO),y)
+HOST_BINUTILS_CONF_OPTS += --enable-plugins --enable-lto
+endif
+
 $(eval $(autotools-package))
 $(eval $(host-autotools-package))
diff --git a/package/gcc/Config.in.host b/package/gcc/Config.in.host
index e07d881444..1a5281ca5b 100644
--- a/package/gcc/Config.in.host
+++ b/package/gcc/Config.in.host
@@ -116,6 +116,13 @@ config BR2_GCC_ENABLE_TLS
 	  Enable the compiler to generate code for accessing
 	  thread local storage variables
 
+config BR2_GCC_ENABLE_LTO
+	bool "Enable compiler link-time-optimization support"
+	select BR2_BINUTILS_ENABLE_LTO
+	help
+	  This option enables link-time optimization (LTO) support in
+	  gcc.
+
 config BR2_GCC_ENABLE_OPENMP
 	bool "Enable compiler OpenMP support"
 	depends on !BR2_PTHREADS_NONE && !BR2_arc && !BR2_microblaze
diff --git a/package/gcc/gcc.mk b/package/gcc/gcc.mk
index ffac15c786..b5d2ddba1e 100644
--- a/package/gcc/gcc.mk
+++ b/package/gcc/gcc.mk
@@ -132,6 +132,10 @@ else
 HOST_GCC_COMMON_CONF_OPTS += --disable-tls
 endif
 
+ifeq ($(BR2_GCC_ENABLE_LTO),y)
+HOST_GCC_COMMON_CONF_OPTS += --enable-plugins --enable-lto
+endif
+
 ifeq ($(BR2_GCC_ENABLE_LIBMUDFLAP),y)
 HOST_GCC_COMMON_CONF_OPTS += --enable-libmudflap
 else
diff --git a/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external.mk b/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external.mk
index 78138d370a..612c49d2e1 100644
--- a/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external.mk
+++ b/toolchain/toolchain-external/toolchain-external.mk
@@ -647,12 +647,20 @@ endif
 # Build toolchain wrapper for preprocessor, C and C++ compiler and setup
 # symlinks for everything else. Skip gdb symlink when we are building our
 # own gdb to prevent two gdb's in output/host/usr/bin.
+# When the link-time-optimazation flag '-flto' is used, then the compiler
+# and binutils have to support lto. ar/ranlib need to be called with the
+# lto plugin. The wrappers *-gcc-ar and *-gcc-ranlib provided by GCC could
+# be used as drop-ins for ar/runlib when Makefiles are used which do not
+# pass the lto arguments.
 define TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_INSTALL_WRAPPER
 	$(Q)$(call MESSAGE,"Building ext-toolchain wrapper")
 	mkdir -p $(HOST_DIR)/usr/bin; cd $(HOST_DIR)/usr/bin; \
 	for i in $(TOOLCHAIN_EXTERNAL_CROSS)*; do \
 		base=$${i##*/}; \
 		case "$$base" in \
+		*-ar|*-ranlib|*-nm) \
+			ln -sf $$(echo $$i | sed 's%^$(HOST_DIR)%../..%') .; \
+			;; \
 		*cc|*cc-*|*++|*++-*|*cpp) \
 			ln -sf ext-toolchain-wrapper $$base; \
 			;; \