diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 303fb072..ca17614d 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(debug,
   ])
 ])
 
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(opt,
+[AS_HELP_STRING(--enable-opt,Optimize for the native CPU - The resulting library will be faster but not portable)],
+[
+  AS_IF([test "x$enableval" = "xyes"], [
+    CFLAGS="$CFLAGS -flto -march=native"
+    LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS -flto -march=native"])
+])
+
 AC_SUBST([MAINT])
 
 dnl Checks