diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/Bootstrap.scala b/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/Bootstrap.scala
index 428c4d0a6..dbb68a5db 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/Bootstrap.scala
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/Bootstrap.scala
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ object Bootstrap extends CaseApp[BootstrapOptions] {
         ).toList.foldLeft((List.empty[String], List.empty[File])){
           case ((urls, files), (url, file)) =>
             if (options.options.assembly || options.options.standalone) (urls, file :: files)
-            else if (url.startsWith("file:/")) (urls, file :: files)
+            else if (options.options.embedFiles && url.startsWith("file:/")) (urls, file :: files)
             else (url :: urls, files)
         }
 
diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/options/BootstrapSpecificOptions.scala b/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/options/BootstrapSpecificOptions.scala
index da7e7e133..a6d20b7b3 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/options/BootstrapSpecificOptions.scala
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala-2.12/coursier/cli/options/BootstrapSpecificOptions.scala
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ final case class BootstrapSpecificOptions(
   @Help("Generate a standalone launcher, with all JARs included, instead of one downloading its dependencies on startup.")
   @Short("s")
     standalone: Boolean = false,
+  @Help("Include files in generated launcher even in non-standalone mode.")
+  @Short("s")
+    embedFiles: Boolean = true,
   @Help("Set Java properties in the generated launcher.")
   @Value("key=value")
   @Short("D")