diff --git a/TOOLS/old-makefile b/TOOLS/old-makefile
index 5477811832..107495b49d 100644
--- a/TOOLS/old-makefile
+++ b/TOOLS/old-makefile
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ SOURCES = audio/audio.c \
           player/client.c \
           player/configfiles.c \
           player/command.c \
+          player/external_files.c \
           player/loadfile.c \
           player/main.c \
           player/misc.c \
@@ -219,7 +220,6 @@ SOURCES = audio/audio.c \
           stream/stream_rar.c \
           sub/dec_sub.c \
           sub/draw_bmp.c \
-          sub/find_subfiles.c \
           sub/img_convert.c \
           sub/osd.c \
           sub/sd_lavc.c \
diff --git a/input/event.c b/input/event.c
index d47f17ddaf..2c46978b15 100644
--- a/input/event.c
+++ b/input/event.c
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 #include "event.h"
 #include "input.h"
 #include "common/msg.h"
-#include "sub/find_subfiles.h"
+#include "player/external_files.h"
 
 void mp_event_drop_files(struct input_ctx *ictx, int num_files, char **files,
                          enum mp_dnd_action action)
diff --git a/sub/find_subfiles.c b/player/external_files.c
similarity index 99%
rename from sub/find_subfiles.c
rename to player/external_files.c
index 8b01a8b0ae..77e12db066 100644
--- a/sub/find_subfiles.c
+++ b/player/external_files.c
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 #include "misc/ctype.h"
 #include "options/options.h"
 #include "options/path.h"
-#include "sub/find_subfiles.h"
+#include "external_files.h"
 
 static const char *const sub_exts[] = {"utf", "utf8", "utf-8", "idx", "sub", "srt",
                                        "smi", "rt", "txt", "ssa", "aqt", "jss",
diff --git a/sub/find_subfiles.h b/player/external_files.h
similarity index 100%
rename from sub/find_subfiles.h
rename to player/external_files.h
diff --git a/player/loadfile.c b/player/loadfile.c
index 4e32ccd6b6..2b87dfd927 100644
--- a/player/loadfile.c
+++ b/player/loadfile.c
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 #include "demux/demux.h"
 #include "stream/stream.h"
 #include "sub/dec_sub.h"
-#include "sub/find_subfiles.h"
+#include "external_files.h"
 #include "video/decode/dec_video.h"
 #include "video/out/vo.h"
 
diff --git a/wscript_build.py b/wscript_build.py
index ee4321926d..c8788c3a06 100644
--- a/wscript_build.py
+++ b/wscript_build.py
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ def build(ctx):
         ( "player/client.c" ),
         ( "player/command.c" ),
         ( "player/configfiles.c" ),
+        ( "player/external_files.c" ),
         ( "player/loadfile.c" ),
         ( "player/main.c" ),
         ( "player/misc.c" ),
@@ -251,7 +252,6 @@ def build(ctx):
         ( "sub/ass_mp.c",                        "libass"),
         ( "sub/dec_sub.c" ),
         ( "sub/draw_bmp.c" ),
-        ( "sub/find_subfiles.c" ),
         ( "sub/img_convert.c" ),
         ( "sub/osd.c" ),
         ( "sub/osd_dummy.c",                     "dummy-osd" ),