Yes, indeed, I use QMAKE from static Qt build. Also, I am able to incorporate other static plugins no problem, just not the imageformat static plugins. Taking these plugins out makes the program to compile fine but unable to handle image files (because the plugins were not incorporated). So, I think the compiler is fine and the code is fine. It's either that imageformat plugins have a problem, or I do not declare them right, or they are not in the right folder.