diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b15fe7b..35fb474 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -131,6 +131,8 @@ if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
 endif()
 
 set(TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_DOCKER_BUILD OFF)
+# Download onnxruntime
+include(cmake/download_onnxruntime.cmake)
 if(TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_LIB_PATHS STREQUAL "")
   set(TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_DOCKER_BUILD ON)
 endif()
@@ -138,7 +140,7 @@ endif()
 message(STATUS "Using Onnxruntime docker: ${TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_DOCKER_BUILD}")
 
 if(NOT TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_DOCKER_BUILD)
-  find_library(ONNXRUNTIME_LIBRARY NAMES onnxruntime PATHS ${TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_LIB_PATHS})
+  find_library(ONNXRUNTIME_LIBRARY NAMES onnxruntime PATHS ${TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_LIB_PATHS} REQUIRED)
   if(${TRITON_ENABLE_ONNXRUNTIME_OPENVINO})
     find_library(OV_LIBRARY
       NAMES openvino
diff --git a/cmake/download_onnxruntime.cmake b/cmake/download_onnxruntime.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c09025
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/download_onnxruntime.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+if(DEFINED TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_PACKAGE_URL)
+
+  set(DOWNLOAD_PATH "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/_deps/downloads/onnxruntime.zip")
+  set(EXTRACT_DIR "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/_deps/downloads/onnxruntime")
+
+  message(NOTICE "Downloading onnxruntime: ${TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_PACKAGE_URL}")
+
+  file(DOWNLOAD ${TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_PACKAGE_URL} ${DOWNLOAD_PATH} SHOW_PROGRESS STATUS DOWNLOAD_STATUS)
+
+  # file(DOWNLOAD ... STATUS DOWNLOAD_STATUS) returns a list with 2 elements
+  list(GET DOWNLOAD_STATUS 0 DOWNLOAD_RESULT)
+
+  if(NOT DOWNLOAD_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+    message(NOTICE "Failed to download: ${TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_PACKAGE_URL}")
+  else()
+    message(NOTICE "Download successful: ${DOWNLOAD_PATH}" )
+
+    file(ARCHIVE_EXTRACT INPUT ${DOWNLOAD_PATH} DESTINATION ${EXTRACT_DIR} VERBOSE )
+
+    file(READ "${EXTRACT_DIR}/VERSION_NUMBER" DOWNLOADED_ONNXRUNTIME_VERSION)
+    if(${DOWNLOADED_ONNXRUNTIME_VERSION} VERSION_EQUAL ${TRITON_BUILD_ONNXRUNTIME_VERSION})
+      message(NOTICE "Downloaded onnxruntime version: ${DOWNLOADED_ONNXRUNTIME_VERSION}")
+      set(TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_INCLUDE_PATHS ${EXTRACT_DIR}/include)
+      set(TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_LIB_PATHS ${EXTRACT_DIR}/lib)
+    else()
+      message(NOTICE "Downloaded onnxruntime version: ${DOWNLOADED_ONNXRUNTIME_VERSION} does not match the required version: ${TRITON_BUILD_ONNXRUNTIME_VERSION}")
+    endif()
+
+  endif(NOT DOWNLOAD_RESULT EQUAL 0)
+
+endif(DEFINED TRITON_ONNXRUNTIME_PACKAGE_URL)
\ No newline at end of file