diff --git a/media/janitors/OWNERS-codecs b/media/janitors/OWNERS-codecs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e201399
--- /dev/null
+++ b/media/janitors/OWNERS-codecs
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# gerrit owner/approvers for the actual software codec libraries
+# differentiated from plugins connecting those codecs to either omx or codec2 infrastructure
+essick@google.com
+lajos@google.com
+marcone@google.com
diff --git a/media/janitors/README b/media/janitors/README
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9db8e0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/media/janitors/README
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+A collection of OWNERS files that we reference from other projects,
+such as the software codecs in directories like external/libavc.
+This is to simplify our owner/approver management across the multiple
+projects related to media.