diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 9cc6545d..79ddc813 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ WORKDIR /go/src/mikefarah/yq
 
 COPY . .
 
-RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build .
+RUN CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -ldflags "-s -w" .
 # RUN ./scripts/test.sh -- this too often times out in the github pipeline.
 RUN ./scripts/acceptance.sh
 
diff --git a/Makefile.variables b/Makefile.variables
index b1968ba8..f9669c16 100644
--- a/Makefile.variables
+++ b/Makefile.variables
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ export GIT_DESCRIBE = $(shell git describe --tags --always)
 LDFLAGS :=
 LDFLAGS += -X main.GitCommit=${GIT_COMMIT}${GIT_DIRTY}
 LDFLAGS += -X main.GitDescribe=${GIT_DESCRIBE}
+LDFLAGS += -w -s
 
 GITHUB_TOKEN ?=
 
diff --git a/scripts/build-small-yq.sh b/scripts/build-small-yq.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..81c78c11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-small-yq.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+go build -tags yq_notoml -tags yq_noxml -tags yq_nojson -ldflags "-s -w" .
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/xcompile.sh b/scripts/xcompile.sh
index cc22b7ef..2b259167 100755
--- a/scripts/xcompile.sh
+++ b/scripts/xcompile.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 set -e
 # you may need to go install github.com/mitchellh/gox@v1.0.1 first
 echo $VERSION
-CGO_ENABLED=0 gox -ldflags "${LDFLAGS}" -output="build/yq_{{.OS}}_{{.Arch}}" --osarch="darwin/amd64 darwin/arm64 freebsd/386 freebsd/amd64 freebsd/arm linux/386 linux/amd64 linux/arm linux/arm64 linux/mips linux/mips64 linux/mips64le linux/mipsle linux/ppc64 linux/ppc64le linux/s390x netbsd/386 netbsd/amd64 netbsd/arm openbsd/386 openbsd/amd64 windows/386 windows/amd64"
+CGO_ENABLED=0 gox -ldflags "-s -w ${LDFLAGS}" -output="build/yq_{{.OS}}_{{.Arch}}" --osarch="darwin/amd64 darwin/arm64 freebsd/386 freebsd/amd64 freebsd/arm linux/386 linux/amd64 linux/arm linux/arm64 linux/mips linux/mips64 linux/mips64le linux/mipsle linux/ppc64 linux/ppc64le linux/s390x netbsd/386 netbsd/amd64 netbsd/arm openbsd/386 openbsd/amd64 windows/386 windows/amd64"
 
 cd build