diff --git a/stratosphere-addons/avro/.gitignore b/stratosphere-addons/avro/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..4f02ef9c961fcd12ca3b0a3b1819efaafaa16f3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stratosphere-addons/avro/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/src/test/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/generated/*
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/stratosphere-addons/avro/pom.xml b/stratosphere-addons/avro/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..45c9ee50eb7a5fc288f848ba5a92a5dfce394118
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stratosphere-addons/avro/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
+	
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
+	
+	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
+	
+	<parent>
+		<artifactId>stratosphere-addons</artifactId>
+		<groupId>eu.stratosphere</groupId>
+		<version>0.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
+		<relativePath>..</relativePath>
+	</parent>
+
+	<artifactId>avro</artifactId>
+	<name>avro</name>
+
+	<packaging>jar</packaging>
+
+	<dependencies>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>eu.stratosphere</groupId>
+			<artifactId>stratosphere-java</artifactId>
+			<version>${project.version}</version>
+		</dependency>
+		
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>eu.stratosphere</groupId>
+			<artifactId>stratosphere-clients</artifactId>
+			<version>${project.version}</version>
+		</dependency>
+		
+		<dependency>
+		  <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
+		  <artifactId>avro</artifactId>
+		  <version>1.7.5</version>
+		</dependency>
+	</dependencies>
+
+	<build>
+		<plugins>
+			<plugin>
+				<groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
+				<artifactId>avro-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+				<version>1.7.5</version>
+				<executions>
+					<execution>
+						<phase>generate-test-sources</phase>
+						<goals>
+							<goal>schema</goal>
+						</goals>
+						<configuration>
+							<sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/test/resources/avro</sourceDirectory>
+							<outputDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/test/java/</outputDirectory>
+						</configuration>
+					</execution>
+				</executions>
+			</plugin>
+			
+		</plugins>
+	</build>
+</project>
diff --git a/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/AvroInputFormat.java b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/AvroInputFormat.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b3fe377776a97af80a0e037b41d51cace292a820
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/AvroInputFormat.java
@@ -0,0 +1,188 @@
+package eu.stratosphere.api.java.record.io.avro;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Field;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Type;
+import org.apache.avro.file.DataFileReader;
+import org.apache.avro.file.FileReader;
+import org.apache.avro.file.SeekableInput;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericDatumReader;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericRecord;
+import org.apache.avro.io.DatumReader;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
+
+import eu.stratosphere.api.java.record.io.FileInputFormat;
+import eu.stratosphere.core.fs.FileInputSplit;
+import eu.stratosphere.core.fs.FileStatus;
+import eu.stratosphere.core.fs.FileSystem;
+import eu.stratosphere.core.fs.Path;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.BooleanValue;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.DoubleValue;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.FloatValue;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.IntValue;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.LongValue;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.NullValue;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.Record;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.StringValue;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.Value;
+
+
+/**
+ * Input format to read Avro files.
+ * 
+ * The input format currently supports only flat avro schemas. So
+ * there is no support for complex types except for nullable
+ * primitve fields, e.g. ["string", null]
+ * (See http://avro.apache.org/docs/current/spec.html#schema_complex)
+ *
+ */
+public class AvroInputFormat extends FileInputFormat {
+	private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(AvroInputFormat.class);
+	
+	
+	private FileReader<GenericRecord> dataFileReader;
+	private GenericRecord reuseAvroRecord = null;
+	
+	@Override
+	public void open(FileInputSplit split) throws IOException {
+		super.open(split);
+		DatumReader<GenericRecord> datumReader = new GenericDatumReader<GenericRecord>();
+		SeekableInput in = new FSDataInputStreamWrapper(stream, (int)split.getLength());
+		LOG.info("Opening split "+split);
+		dataFileReader = DataFileReader.openReader(in, datumReader);
+		dataFileReader.sync(split.getStart());
+	}
+	@Override
+	public boolean reachedEnd() throws IOException {
+		return !dataFileReader.hasNext();
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public boolean nextRecord(Record record) throws IOException {
+		if(!dataFileReader.hasNext()) {
+			return false;
+		}
+		if(record == null){
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Empty PactRecord given");
+		}
+		reuseAvroRecord = dataFileReader.next(reuseAvroRecord);
+		final List<Field> fields = reuseAvroRecord.getSchema().getFields();
+		for(Field field : fields) {
+			final Value value = convertAvroToPactValue(field, reuseAvroRecord.get(field.pos()));
+			record.setField(field.pos(), value);
+			record.updateBinaryRepresenation();
+		}
+		
+		return true;
+	}
+	/**
+	 * Converts an Avro GenericRecord to a Value.
+	 * @return
+	 */
+	private StringValue sString = new StringValue();
+	private IntValue sInt = new IntValue();
+	private BooleanValue sBool = new BooleanValue();
+	private DoubleValue sDouble = new DoubleValue();
+	private FloatValue sFloat = new FloatValue();
+	private LongValue sLong = new LongValue();
+	
+	private final Value convertAvroToPactValue(final Field field,final Object avroRecord) {
+		if(avroRecord == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
+		final Type type = checkTypeConstraintsAndGetType(field.schema());
+		switch(type) {
+			case STRING:
+				sString.setValue((CharSequence) avroRecord);
+				return sString;
+			case INT:
+				sInt.setValue((Integer) avroRecord);
+				return sInt;
+			case BOOLEAN:
+				sBool.setValue((Boolean) avroRecord);
+				return sBool;
+			case DOUBLE:
+				sDouble.setValue((Double) avroRecord);
+				return sDouble;
+			case FLOAT:
+				sFloat.setValue((Float) avroRecord);
+				return sFloat;
+			case LONG:
+				sLong.setValue((Long) avroRecord);
+				return sLong;
+			case NULL:
+				return NullValue.getInstance();
+			default:
+				throw new RuntimeException("Type "+type+" for AvroInputFormat is not implemented. Open an issue on GitHub.");
+		}
+	}
+	
+	private final Type checkTypeConstraintsAndGetType(final Schema schema) {
+		final Type type = schema.getType();
+		if(type == Type.ARRAY || type == Type.ENUM || type == Type.RECORD || type == Type.MAP ) {
+			throw new RuntimeException("The given Avro file contains complex data types which are not supported right now");
+		}
+		
+		if( type == Type.UNION) {
+			List<Schema> types = schema.getTypes();
+			if(types.size() > 2) {
+				throw new RuntimeException("The given Avro file contains a union that has more than two elements");
+			}
+			if(types.size() == 1 && types.get(0).getType() != Type.UNION) {
+				return types.get(0).getType();
+			}
+			if(types.get(0).getType() == Type.UNION || types.get(1).getType() == Type.UNION ) {
+				throw new RuntimeException("The given Avro file contains a nested union");
+			}
+			if(types.get(0).getType() == Type.NULL) {
+				return types.get(1).getType();
+			} else {
+				if(types.get(1).getType() != Type.NULL) {
+					throw new RuntimeException("The given Avro file is contains a union with two non-null types.");
+				}
+				return types.get(0).getType();
+			}
+		}
+		return type;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Set minNumSplits to number of files.
+	 */
+	@Override
+	public FileInputSplit[] createInputSplits(int minNumSplits)
+			throws IOException {
+		int numAvroFiles = 0;
+		final Path path = this.filePath;
+		// get all the files that are involved in the splits
+		final FileSystem fs = path.getFileSystem();
+		final FileStatus pathFile = fs.getFileStatus(path);
+
+		if(!acceptFile(pathFile)) {
+			throw new IOException("The given file does not pass the file-filter");
+		}
+		if (pathFile.isDir()) {
+			// input is directory. list all contained files
+			final FileStatus[] dir = fs.listStatus(path);
+			for (int i = 0; i < dir.length; i++) {
+				if (!dir[i].isDir() && acceptFile(dir[i])) {
+					numAvroFiles++;
+				}
+			}
+		} else {
+			numAvroFiles = 1;
+		}
+		return super.createInputSplits(numAvroFiles);
+	}
+	
+	// dirty hack. needs a fix!	
+	private boolean acceptFile(FileStatus fileStatus) {
+		final String name = fileStatus.getPath().getName();
+		return !name.startsWith("_") && !name.startsWith(".");
+	}
+				
+}
diff --git a/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/FSDataInputStreamWrapper.java b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/FSDataInputStreamWrapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..2b7422535eb33765d43f1279524d48c5a45dbfdd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/FSDataInputStreamWrapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+package eu.stratosphere.api.java.record.io.avro;
+
+import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.avro.file.SeekableInput;
+
+import eu.stratosphere.core.fs.FSDataInputStream;
+
+
+/**
+ * Code copy pasted from org.apache.avro.mapred.FSInput (which is Apache
+ * licenced as well)
+ * 
+ * The wrapper keeps track of the position!
+ * 
+ */
+public class FSDataInputStreamWrapper implements Closeable, SeekableInput {
+	private final FSDataInputStream stream;
+	private final long len;
+	private long pos;
+
+	FSDataInputStreamWrapper(final FSDataInputStream stream, final int len) {
+		this.stream = stream;
+		this.len = len;
+		this.pos = 0;
+	}
+
+	public long length() {
+		return len;
+	}
+
+	public int read(byte[] b, int off, int len) throws IOException {
+		int read;
+		read = stream.read(b, off, len);
+		pos += read;
+		return read;
+	}
+
+	public void seek(long p) throws IOException {
+		stream.seek(p);
+		pos = p;
+	}
+
+	public long tell() throws IOException {
+		return pos;
+	}
+
+	public void close() throws IOException {
+		stream.close();
+	}
+}
diff --git a/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/test/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/AvroInputFormatTest.java b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/test/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/AvroInputFormatTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a92e6b00c4e1a7a79f9bf6a3fee3bc4e947a6489
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/test/java/eu/stratosphere/api/java/record/io/avro/AvroInputFormatTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+package eu.stratosphere.api.java.record.io.avro;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import junit.framework.Assert;
+
+import org.apache.avro.file.DataFileWriter;
+import org.apache.avro.io.DatumWriter;
+import org.apache.avro.specific.SpecificDatumWriter;
+import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import eu.stratosphere.api.java.record.io.avro.generated.User;
+import eu.stratosphere.configuration.Configuration;
+import eu.stratosphere.core.fs.FileInputSplit;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.Record;
+import eu.stratosphere.types.StringValue;
+
+
+/**
+ * Test the avro input format.
+ * (The testcase is mostly the getting started tutorial of avro)
+ * http://avro.apache.org/docs/current/gettingstartedjava.html
+ * 
+ */
+public class AvroInputFormatTest {
+	
+	private File testFile;
+	
+	private final AvroInputFormat format = new AvroInputFormat();
+	final static String TEST_NAME = "Alyssa";
+	@Before
+	public void createFiles() throws IOException {
+		testFile = File.createTempFile("AvroInputFormatTest", null);
+		User user1 = new User();
+		user1.setName(TEST_NAME);
+		user1.setFavoriteNumber(256);
+		user1.setTypeDoubleTest(123.45d);
+		user1.setTypeBoolTest(true);
+	     
+		// Construct via builder
+		User user2 = User.newBuilder()
+		             .setName("Charlie")
+		             .setFavoriteColor("blue")
+		             .setFavoriteNumber(null)
+		             .setTypeBoolTest(false)
+		             .setTypeDoubleTest(1.337d)
+		             .setTypeNullTest(null)
+		             .setTypeLongTest(1337L)
+		             .build();
+		DatumWriter<User> userDatumWriter = new SpecificDatumWriter<User>(User.class);
+		DataFileWriter<User> dataFileWriter = new DataFileWriter<User>(userDatumWriter);
+		dataFileWriter.create(user1.getSchema(), testFile);
+		dataFileWriter.append(user1);
+		dataFileWriter.append(user2);
+		dataFileWriter.close();
+	}
+	
+	@Test
+	public void testDeserialisation() throws IOException {
+		Configuration parameters = new Configuration();
+		format.setFilePath("file://"+testFile.getAbsolutePath());
+		format.configure(parameters);
+		FileInputSplit[] splits = format.createInputSplits(1);
+		Assert.assertEquals(splits.length, 1);
+		format.open(splits[0]);
+		Record record = new Record();
+		Assert.assertTrue(format.nextRecord(record));
+		StringValue name = record.getField(0, StringValue.class);
+		Assert.assertNotNull("empty record", name);
+		Assert.assertEquals("name not equal",name.getValue(), TEST_NAME);
+		
+		Assert.assertFalse("expecting second element", format.reachedEnd());
+		Assert.assertTrue("expecting second element", format.nextRecord(record));
+		
+		Assert.assertFalse(format.nextRecord(record));
+		Assert.assertTrue(format.reachedEnd());
+		
+		format.close();
+	}
+	
+	@After
+	public void deleteFiles() {
+		testFile.delete();
+	}
+}
diff --git a/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/test/resources/avro/user.avsc b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/test/resources/avro/user.avsc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..6bf7d7393bded0e4d0e5b85c5dc54e902658c3b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stratosphere-addons/avro/src/test/resources/avro/user.avsc
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+{"namespace": "eu.stratosphere.api.java.record.io.avro.generated",
+ "type": "record",
+ "name": "User",
+ "fields": [
+     {"name": "name", "type": "string"},
+     {"name": "favorite_number",  "type": ["int", "null"]},
+     {"name": "favorite_color", "type": ["string", "null"]},
+     {"name": "type_long_test", "type": ["long", "null"]},
+     {"name": "type_double_test", "type": ["double"]},
+     {"name": "type_null_test", "type": ["null"]},
+     {"name": "type_bool_test", "type": ["boolean"]}
+ ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/stratosphere-addons/pom.xml b/stratosphere-addons/pom.xml
index 7b41dec73f886d07c157fcc75ea6ccf1621f5938..4cf7b596b61c7ac8886c045470b532b3763a1ab1 100644
--- a/stratosphere-addons/pom.xml
+++ b/stratosphere-addons/pom.xml
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 
 	<modules>
 		<module>array-datamodel</module>
-		<!-- To come here: hbase-simple, jdbc, sequenceFile, avro -->
+		<module>avro</module>
 		<module>jdbc</module>
 		<module>spargel</module>
 		<module>swt-visualization</module>