diff --git a/tools/compile_tf_graph.py b/tools/compile_tf_graph.py
index 569e9ff36e..e3c6652efb 100755
--- a/tools/compile_tf_graph.py
+++ b/tools/compile_tf_graph.py
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ def main(argv):
   argparser.add_argument('--search', type=int, default=0, help='beam search. 0 disable (default), 1 enable')
   argparser.add_argument("--verbosity", default=4, type=int, help="5 for all seqs (default: 4)")
   argparser.add_argument("--summaries_tensor_name")
-  argparser.add_argument("--output_file", help='output pb or pbtxt file')
+  argparser.add_argument("--output_file", help='output pb, pbtxt or meta, metatxt file')
   argparser.add_argument("--output_file_model_params_list", help="line-based, names of model params")
   argparser.add_argument("--output_file_state_vars_list", help="line-based, name of state vars")
   args = argparser.parse_args(argv[1:])
@@ -107,21 +107,28 @@ def main(argv):
       assert isinstance(summaries_tensor, tf.Tensor), "no summaries in the graph?"
       tf.identity(summaries_tensor, name=args.summaries_tensor_name)
 
+    if args.output_file and os.path.splitext(args.output_file)[1] in [".meta", ".metatxt"]:
+      # https://www.tensorflow.org/api_guides/python/meta_graph
+      saver = tf.train.Saver(
+        var_list=network.get_saveable_params_list(), max_to_keep=2 ** 31 - 1)
+      graph_def = saver.export_meta_graph()
+    else:
+      graph_def = graph.as_graph_def(add_shapes=True)
+
     print("Graph collection keys:", graph.get_all_collection_keys())
     print("Graph num operations:", len(graph.get_operations()))
-    graph_def = graph.as_graph_def(add_shapes=True)
     print("Graph def size:", Util.human_bytes_size(graph_def.ByteSize()))
 
     if args.output_file:
       filename = args.output_file
       _, ext = os.path.splitext(filename)
-      assert ext in [".pb", ".pbtxt"], 'filename %r extension should be pb or pbtxt' % filename
+      assert ext in [".pb", ".pbtxt", ".meta", ".metatxt"], 'filename %r extension invalid' % filename
       print("Write graph to file:", filename)
       graph_io.write_graph(
         graph_def,
         logdir=os.path.dirname(filename),
         name=os.path.basename(filename),
-        as_text=(ext == ".pbtxt"))
+        as_text=ext.endswith("txt"))
     else:
       print("Use --output_file if you want to store the graph.")