diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSClients.java b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSClients.java
index 0b25e63..224564d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSClients.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSClients.java
@@ -89,6 +89,8 @@ public static AWSClients fromBasicCredentials(String region, String awsAccessKey
     /**
      * Via the default provider chain (i.e., global keys for this Jenkins instance),  return the account ID for the
      * currently authenticated user.
+	 * @param proxyHost Proxy host DNS
+	 * @param proxyPort Proxy host port number
      * @return 12-digit account id
      */
     public static String getAccountId(String proxyHost, int proxyPort) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher.java b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher.java
index fd1be49..ed670ae 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher.java
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
 /**
  * The AWS CodeDeploy Publisher is a post-build plugin that adds the ability to start a new CodeDeploy deployment
  * with the project's workspace as the application revision.
- * <p/>
+ * 
  * To configure, users must create an IAM role that allows "S3" and "CodeDeploy" actions and must be assumable by
  * the globally configured keys. This allows the plugin to get temporary credentials instead of requiring permanent
  * credentials to be configured for each project.
@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ public class AWSCodeDeployPublisher extends Publisher {
     private final String region;
     private final String includes;
     private final String excludes;
+	private final boolean useDefaultExcludes;
     private final String subdirectory;
     private final String proxyHost;
     private final int proxyPort;
@@ -131,7 +132,8 @@ public AWSCodeDeployPublisher(
             String proxyHost,
             int proxyPort,
             String excludes,
-            String subdirectory) {
+            String subdirectory,
+			Boolean useDefaultExcludes) {
 
         this.externalId = externalId;
         this.applicationName = applicationName;
@@ -144,6 +146,13 @@ public AWSCodeDeployPublisher(
         this.region = region;
         this.includes = includes;
         this.excludes = excludes;
+		if (useDefaultExcludes == null) {
+			// if not defined, default to true to retain backward compatibilty for versions <= 1.15
+			this.useDefaultExcludes = true;
+		}
+		else {
+			this.useDefaultExcludes = useDefaultExcludes;
+		}
         this.subdirectory = subdirectory;
         this.proxyHost = proxyHost;
         this.proxyPort = proxyPort;
@@ -179,6 +188,7 @@ public AWSCodeDeployPublisher(
         } else {
             this.s3prefix = s3prefix;
         }
+		
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -357,7 +367,7 @@ private RevisionLocation zipAndUpload(AWSClients aws, String projectName, FilePa
             try {
                 sourceDirectory.zip(
                         outputStream,
-                        new DirScanner.Glob(this.includes, this.excludes)
+                        new DirScanner.Glob(this.includes, this.excludes, this.useDefaultExcludes)
                 );
             } finally {
                 outputStream.close();
@@ -495,8 +505,7 @@ public BuildStepMonitor getRequiredMonitorService() {
     /**
      * Descriptor for {@link AWSCodeDeployPublisher}. Used as a singleton.
      * The class is marked as public so that it can be accessed from views.
-     * <p/>
-     * <p/>
+     * 
      * See <tt>src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/*.jelly</tt>
      * for the actual HTML fragment for the configuration screen.
      */
@@ -711,6 +720,10 @@ public String getExcludes() {
         return excludes;
     }
 
+	public boolean getUseDefaultExcludes() {
+        return useDefaultExcludes;
+    }
+
     public String getSubdirectory() {
         return subdirectory;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/config.jelly b/src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/config.jelly
index 104cdb1..c0ea466 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/config.jelly
+++ b/src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/config.jelly
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@
   <f:entry title="Exclude Files" field="excludes">
     <f:textbox default="" />
   </f:entry>
+  
+  <f:entry title="Use Default (Ant) Excludes List"  field="useDefaultExcludes">
+    <f:checkbox default="true" field="useDefaultExcludes" checked="${instance.getUseDefaultExcludes}" />
+  </f:entry>
+
   <f:entry title="Proxy Host" field="proxyHost">
     <f:textbox default="" />
   </f:entry>
diff --git a/src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/help-useDefaultExcludes.html b/src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/help-useDefaultExcludes.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb751c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/com/amazonaws/codedeploy/AWSCodeDeployPublisher/help-useDefaultExcludes.html
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<div>
+    <p>If checked, the deployment will exclude files based on the Ant default exclude list.</p>
+    <p>See <a href='https://ant.apache.org/manual/dirtasks.html#defaultexcludes' target='_blank'>Ant default excludes.</a> </p>
+</div>