diff --git a/src/theia/CMakeLists.txt b/src/theia/CMakeLists.txt
index 07c54a421..2029dcdd6 100644
--- a/src/theia/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/theia/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -32,6 +32,24 @@
 # Please contact the author of this library if you have any questions.
 # Author: Chris Sweeney (cmsweeney@cs.ucsb.edu)
 
+function(create_resource_file file output)
+    # Create empty output file
+    file(WRITE ${output} "")
+    # Get short filename
+    get_filename_component(filename "${file}" NAME)
+    # Replace filename spaces & extension separator for C compatibility
+    string(MAKE_C_IDENTIFIER ${filename} filename)
+    # Read hex data from file
+    file(READ ${file} filedata HEX)
+    # Convert hex data for C compatibility
+    string(REGEX REPLACE "([0-9a-f][0-9a-f])" "0x\\1," filedata ${filedata})
+    # Append data to output file
+    file(WRITE ${output} "const char ${filename}[] = {${filedata}};\nconst size_t ${filename}_size = sizeof(${filename});\n")
+endfunction()
+
+create_resource_file("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/data/camera_sensor_database.txt" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/camera_sensor_database.h")
+include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
+
 # Add headers
 file(GLOB_RECURSE THEIA_HDRS *.h)
 
diff --git a/src/theia/sfm/exif_reader.cc b/src/theia/sfm/exif_reader.cc
index 48c049a9e..6a5c708da 100644
--- a/src/theia/sfm/exif_reader.cc
+++ b/src/theia/sfm/exif_reader.cc
@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@
 #include "theia/sfm/camera_intrinsics_prior.h"
 #include "theia/util/map_util.h"
 
+// Generated file
+#include "camera_sensor_database.h"
+
 namespace theia {
 namespace {
 
@@ -93,14 +96,7 @@ ExifReader::ExifReader() {
 }
 
 void ExifReader::LoadSensorWidthDatabase() {
-  const std::string sensor_width_file =
-      std::string(THEIA_DATA_DIR) + "/camera_sensor_database.txt";
-
-  std::ifstream ifs(sensor_width_file.c_str(), std::ios::in);
-  if (!ifs.is_open()) {
-    LOG(FATAL) << "Cannot read the sensor width file from "
-               << sensor_width_file;
-  }
+  std::stringstream ifs(camera_sensor_database_txt, std::ios::in);
 
   while (!ifs.eof()) {
     // Read in the filename.