diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 373d85d41..2e01b3b03 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,13 +18,24 @@ the Volatility Software License (VSL). See the [LICENSE](LICENSE.txt) file for m
 
 ## Requirements
 
-- Python 3.6.0 or later. <https://www.python.org>
-- Pefile 2017.8.1 or later. <https://pypi.org/project/pefile/>
+Volatility 3 requires Python 3.6.0 or later. To install the most minimal set of dependencies (some plugins will not work) use a command such as:
 
-## Optional Dependencies
+```shell
+pip3 install requirements-minimal.txt
+```
 
-- yara-python 3.8.0 or later. <https://github.com/VirusTotal/yara-python>
-- capstone 3.0.0 or later. <https://www.capstone-engine.org/download.html>
+Alternately, the minimal packages can be installed automatically when Volatility 3 is installed. However, as noted in the Quick Start section below, Volatility 3 does not *need* to be installed prior to using it.
+
+```shell
+python3 setup.py build 
+python3 setup.py install
+```
+
+To enable the full range of Volatility 3 functionality, use a command like the one below. For partial functionality, comment out any unnecessary packages in [requirements.txt](requirements.txt) prior to running the command.
+
+```shell
+pip3 install requirements.txt
+```
 
 ## Downloading Volatility
 
diff --git a/doc/requirements.txt b/doc/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d646d22ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# These packages are required for building the documentation.
+sphinx>=1.8.2
+sphinx_autodoc_typehints>=1.4.0
+sphinx-rtd-theme>=0.4.3
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements-minimal.txt b/requirements-minimal.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..31ac02814
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements-minimal.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+# These packages are required for core functionality.
+pefile>=2017.8.1 #foo
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f9ec9d3d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# The following packages are required for core functionality.
+pefile>=2017.8.1
+
+# The following packages are optional.
+# If certain packages are not necessary, place a comment (#) at the start of the line.
+
+# This is required for the yara plugins
+yara-python>=3.8.0
+
+# This is required for several plugins that perform malware analysis and disassemble code.
+# It can also improve accuracy of Windows 8 and later memory samples.
+capstone>=3.0.5
+
+# This is required by plugins that decrypt passwords, password hashes, etc.
+pycryptodome
+
+# This can improve error messages regarding improperly configured ISF files.
+jsonschema>=2.3.0
+
+# This is required for memory acquisition via leech.
+leechcorepyc>=2.4.0
+
+# This is required for analyzing Linux samples acquired with AVML.
+python-snappy==0.6.0
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 8e9f88217..f6bb687f2 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,6 +9,16 @@ from volatility3.framework import constants
 with open("README.md", "r", encoding = "utf-8") as fh:
     long_description = fh.read()
 
+def get_install_requires():
+    requirements = []
+    with open("requirements-minimal.txt", "r", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
+        for line in fh.readlines():
+            stripped_line = line.strip()
+            if stripped_line == "" or stripped_line.startswith("#"):
+                continue
+            requirements.append(stripped_line)
+    return requirements
+
 setuptools.setup(name = "volatility3",
                  description = "Memory forensics framework",
                  version = constants.PACKAGE_VERSION,
@@ -24,7 +34,7 @@ setuptools.setup(name = "volatility3",
                      "Documentation": "https://volatility3.readthedocs.io/",
                      "Source Code": "https://github.com/volatilityfoundation/volatility3",
                  },
-                 python_requires = '>=3.5.3',
+                 python_requires = '>=3.6.0',
                  include_package_data = True,
                  exclude_package_data = {
                      '': ['development', 'development.*'],
@@ -37,13 +47,4 @@ setuptools.setup(name = "volatility3",
                          'volshell = volatility3.cli.volshell:main',
                      ],
                  },
-                 install_requires = ["pefile"],
-                 extras_require = {
-                     'leechcorepyc': ["leechcorepyc>=2.4.0"],
-                     'jsonschema': ["jsonschema>=2.3.0"],
-                     'yara': ["yara-python>=3.8.0"],
-                     'crypto': ["pycryptodome>=3"],
-                     'disasm': ["capstone;platform_system=='Linux'", "capstone-windows;platform_system=='Windows'"],
-                     'doc': ["sphinx>=1.8.2", "sphinx_autodoc_typehints>=1.4.0", "sphinx-rtd-theme>=0.4.3"],
-                     'avml': ["python-snappy==0.6.0"],
-                 })
+                 install_requires = get_install_requires())