diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # ChangeLog for file-embed
 
+## 0.0.14.0
+
+* Add `embedFileIfExists`
+
 ## 0.0.13.0
 
 * Ensure that directory listings are returned in sorted order for reproducibility [yesodweb/yesod#1684](https://github.com/yesodweb/yesod/issues/1684)
diff --git a/Data/FileEmbed.hs b/Data/FileEmbed.hs
--- a/Data/FileEmbed.hs
+++ b/Data/FileEmbed.hs
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 module Data.FileEmbed
     ( -- * Embed at compile time
       embedFile
+    , embedFileIfExists
     , embedOneFileOf
     , embedDir
     , embedDirListing
@@ -60,13 +61,14 @@
 #endif
 import System.Directory (doesDirectoryExist, doesFileExist,
                          getDirectoryContents, canonicalizePath)
-import Control.Exception (throw, ErrorCall(..))
-import Control.Monad (filterM)
+import Control.Exception (throw, tryJust, ErrorCall(..))
+import Control.Monad (filterM, guard)
 import qualified Data.ByteString as B
 import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as B8
 import Control.Arrow ((&&&), second)
 import Control.Applicative ((<$>))
 import Data.ByteString.Unsafe (unsafePackAddressLen)
+import System.IO.Error (isDoesNotExistError)
 import System.IO.Unsafe (unsafePerformIO)
 import System.FilePath ((</>), takeDirectory, takeExtension)
 import Data.String (fromString)
@@ -86,6 +88,33 @@
     qAddDependentFile fp >>
 #endif
   (runIO $ B.readFile fp) >>= bsToExp
+
+-- | Maybe embed a single file in your source code depending on whether or not file exists.
+--
+-- Warning: When a build is compiled with the file missing, a recompile when the file exists might not trigger an embed of the file.
+-- You might try to fix this by doing a clean build.
+--
+-- > import qualified Data.ByteString
+-- >
+-- > maybeMyFile :: Maybe Data.ByteString.ByteString
+-- > maybeMyFile = $(embedFileIfExists "dirName/fileName")
+--
+-- @since 0.0.14.0
+embedFileIfExists :: FilePath -> Q Exp
+embedFileIfExists fp = do
+  mbs <- runIO maybeFile
+  case mbs of
+    Nothing -> [| Nothing |]
+    Just bs -> do
+#if MIN_VERSION_template_haskell(2,7,0)
+      qAddDependentFile fp
+#endif
+      [| Just $(bsToExp bs) |]
+  where
+    maybeFile :: IO (Maybe B.ByteString)
+    maybeFile = 
+      either (const Nothing) Just <$> 
+      tryJust (guard . isDoesNotExistError) (B.readFile fp)
 
 -- | Embed a single existing file in your source code
 -- out of list a list of paths supplied.
diff --git a/file-embed.cabal b/file-embed.cabal
--- a/file-embed.cabal
+++ b/file-embed.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name:            file-embed
-version:         0.0.13.0
+version:         0.0.14.0
 license:         BSD3
 license-file:    LICENSE
 author:          Michael Snoyman <michael@snoyman.com>
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
     main-is: main.hs
     hs-source-dirs: test
     build-depends: base
+                 , bytestring
                  , file-embed
                  , filepath
 
diff --git a/test/main.hs b/test/main.hs
--- a/test/main.hs
+++ b/test/main.hs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-}
 
 import Control.Monad (unless)
+import qualified Data.ByteString as B (ByteString, filter)
 import Data.FileEmbed
 import System.FilePath ((</>))
 
@@ -19,3 +20,9 @@
         ]
     let str = $(embedStringFile "test/sample/foo") :: String
     filter (/= '\r') str @?= "foo\n"
+
+    let mbs = $(embedFileIfExists "test/sample/foo")
+    fmap (B.filter (/= fromIntegral (fromEnum '\r'))) mbs @?= Just "foo\n"
+
+    let mbs2 = $(embedFileIfExists "test/sample/foo2") :: Maybe B.ByteString
+    mbs2 @?= Nothing