diff --git a/build/build.py b/build/build.py
index d1eed4c962..289cc653d7 100755
--- a/build/build.py
+++ b/build/build.py
@@ -2,8 +2,19 @@
 
 import sys
 sys.path.append("../tools")
+import mergejs
 
-import jsmin, mergejs
+have_compressor = None
+try:
+    import jsmin
+    have_compressor = "jsmin"
+except ImportError:
+    try:
+        import minimize
+        have_compressor = "minimize"
+    except Exception, E:
+        print E
+        pass
 
 sourceDirectory = "../lib"
 configFilename = "library.cfg"
@@ -21,8 +32,15 @@ if len(sys.argv) > 2:
 
 print "Merging libraries."
 merged = mergejs.run(sourceDirectory, None, configFilename)
-print "Compressing."
-minimized = jsmin.jsmin(merged)
+if have_compressor == "jsmin":
+    print "Compressing using jsmin."
+    minimized = jsmin.jsmin(merged)
+elif have_compressor == "minimize":
+    print "Compressing using minimize."
+    minimized = minimize.minimize(merged)
+else: # fallback
+    print "Not compressing."
+    minimized = merged 
 print "Adding license file."
 minimized = file("license.txt").read() + minimized
 
diff --git a/tools/minimize.py b/tools/minimize.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5358bd54a7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/minimize.py
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+# Minimal Python Minimizer
+# Copyright 2008, Christopher Schmidt
+# Released under the MIT License
+#
+# Taken from: http://svn.crschmidt.net/personal/python/minimize.py
+# $Id: minimize.py 6 2008-01-03 06:33:35Z crschmidt $
+#
+# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+# of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+# in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+# to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+# copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+# furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+# 
+# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
+# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+# 
+# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+# AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+# LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+# OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
+# THE SOFTWARE.
+
+import re
+
+def strip_comments_helper(data):
+    """remove all /* */ format comments and surrounding whitespace."""
+    p = re.compile(r'[\s]*/\*.*?\*/[\s]*', re.DOTALL)
+    return p.sub('',data)
+
+def minimize(data, exclude=None):
+    """Central function call. This will call all other compression
+       functions. To add further compression algorithms, simply add
+       functions whose names end in _helper which take a string as input 
+       and return a more compressed string as output."""
+    for key, item in globals().iteritems():
+        if key.endswith("_helper"):
+            func_key = key[:-7]
+            if not exclude or not func_key in exclude:   
+                data = item(data)
+    return data   
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import sys
+    print minimize(open(sys.argv[1]).read())