diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c55318aa2c..de21dfab9e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -202,9 +202,12 @@ option(USE_DISCORD "Build with Discord support" ON)
 option(USE_MINIUPNPC "Build with miniUPnPc support" ON)
 option(USE_SYSTEM_SNAPPY "Dynamically link against system snappy" ${USE_SYSTEM_SNAPPY})
 option(USE_SYSTEM_FFMPEG "Dynamically link against system FFMPEG" ${USE_SYSTEM_FFMPEG})
+option(USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE "Dynamically link against system freetype" ${USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE})
+option(USE_SYSTEM_LIBCHDR "Dynamically link against system libchdr" ${USE_SYSTEM_LIBCHDR})
 option(USE_SYSTEM_LIBZIP "Dynamically link against system libzip" ${USE_SYSTEM_LIBZIP})
 option(USE_SYSTEM_LIBSDL2 "Dynamically link against system SDL2" ${DEFAULT_USE_SYSTEM_LIBSDL2})
 option(USE_SYSTEM_LIBPNG "Dynamically link against system libpng" ON)
+option(USE_SYSTEM_RAPIDJSON "Build using system rapidjson" ${USE_SYSTEM_RAPIDJSON})
 option(USE_SYSTEM_ZSTD "Dynamically link against system zstd" ${USE_SYSTEM_ZSTD})
 option(USE_SYSTEM_MINIUPNPC "Dynamically link against system miniUPnPc" ${USE_SYSTEM_MINIUPNPC})
 option(USE_ASAN "Use address sanitizer" OFF)
@@ -218,6 +221,10 @@ if(USE_CCACHE)
 	include(ccache)
 endif()
 
+if(USE_SYSTEM_RAPIDJSON)
+	add_compile_definitions(SYSTEM_RAPIDJSON)
+endif()
+
 if(WEBOS)
 	set(ARMV7 ON)
 	set(USING_X11_VULKAN OFF)
@@ -2077,7 +2084,7 @@ if(WIN32)
 	)
 endif()
 
-if(LINUX OR ANDROID OR MACOSX OR IOS)
+if(LINUX OR ANDROID OR MACOSX OR IOS OR BSD)
 	list(APPEND aemu_postoffice
 		ext/aemu_postoffice/client/sock_impl_linux.c
 	)
@@ -2577,7 +2584,14 @@ else()
 	include_directories(ext/zstd/lib)
 endif()
 
-include_directories(ext/libchdr/include)
+if(USE_SYSTEM_LIBCHDR)
+	find_package(PkgConfig)
+	if(PkgConfig_FOUND)
+		pkg_check_modules(libchdr_PKGCONFIG IMPORTED_TARGET libchdr)
+	endif()
+else()
+	include_directories(ext/libchdr/include)
+endif()
 
 target_link_libraries(${CoreLibName} Common native chdr kirk cityhash sfmt19937 xbrz xxhash rcheevos minimp3 at3_standalone lua ${GlslangLibs}
 	${CoreExtraLibs} ${OPENGL_LIBRARIES} ${X11_LIBRARIES} ${CMAKE_DL_LIBS})
@@ -2952,7 +2966,13 @@ if(UNITTEST)
 endif()
 
 if(ATLAS_TOOL)
-	include_directories(ext/freetype/include)
+	if(USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE)
+		find_package(Freetype REQUIRED)
+		include_directories(${FREETYPE_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+		add_compile_definitions(SYSTEM_FREETYPE)
+	else()
+		include_directories(ext/freetype/include)
+	endif()
 
 	set(AtlasToolSource
 		ext/native/tools/atlastool.cpp
diff --git a/Core/RetroAchievements.cpp b/Core/RetroAchievements.cpp
index 1f30c0cb8c..72e6c6866c 100644
--- a/Core/RetroAchievements.cpp
+++ b/Core/RetroAchievements.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@
 #include "ext/rcheevos/include/rc_api_request.h"
 #include "ext/rcheevos/include/rc_api_runtime.h"
 
+#ifdef SYSTEM_RAPIDJSON
+#include <rapidjson/document.h>
+#else
 #include "ext/rapidjson/include/rapidjson/document.h"
+#endif
 
 #include "Common/Crypto/md5.h"
 #include "Common/Log.h"
diff --git a/ext/CMakeLists.txt b/ext/CMakeLists.txt
index 32e5c4ce92..fd52b72fb9 100644
--- a/ext/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/ext/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ set(FT_REQUIRE_BZIP2 OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
 set(FT_REQUIRE_PNG OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
 set(FT_REQUIRE_HARFBUZZ OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
 set(FT_REQUIRE_BROTLI OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
-if(NOT LIBRETRO)
+if(NOT LIBRETRO AND NOT USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE)
     add_subdirectory(freetype)
 endif()
 
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ if(USE_DISCORD AND NOT IOS AND NOT LIBRETRO)
 	add_subdirectory(discord-rpc-build)
 endif()
 
-add_subdirectory(libchdr-build)
+if(NOT USE_SYSTEM_LIBCHDR)
+	add_subdirectory(libchdr-build)
+endif()
 
 if(ANDROID)
     if (ARM64)
diff --git a/ext/native/tools/atlastool.cpp b/ext/native/tools/atlastool.cpp
index bf5f0546ce..bbc0396668 100644
--- a/ext/native/tools/atlastool.cpp
+++ b/ext/native/tools/atlastool.cpp
@@ -25,8 +25,13 @@
 #include <vector>
 #include <map>
 #include <string>
+#ifdef SYSTEM_FREETYPE
+#include <freetype2/ft2build.h>
+#include <freetype2/freetype/ftbitmap.h>
+#else
 #include "ft2build.h"
 #include "freetype/ftbitmap.h"
+#endif
 #include "zstd.h"
 
 #include "Common/Render/AtlasGen.h"