diff --git a/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/LinkActions.java b/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/LinkActions.java
index a6514b50..9c47d5f2 100644
--- a/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/LinkActions.java
+++ b/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/LinkActions.java
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 
 import static bdv.tools.links.ClipboardUtils.getFromClipboard;
 
+import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+
 import org.scijava.plugin.Plugin;
 import org.scijava.ui.behaviour.io.gui.CommandDescriptionProvider;
 import org.scijava.ui.behaviour.io.gui.CommandDescriptions;
@@ -53,9 +55,11 @@ public class LinkActions
 
 	public static final String COPY_VIEWER_STATE = "copy viewer state";
 	public static final String PASTE_VIEWER_STATE = "paste viewer state";
+	public static final String GENERATE_LINK_VIEWER_STATE = "generate link viewer state";
 
 	public static final String[] COPY_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS = new String[] { "ctrl C", "meta C" };
 	public static final String[] PASTE_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS = new String[] { "ctrl V", "meta V" };
+	public static final String[] GENERATE_LINK_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS = new String[] { "ctrl L", "meta L" };
 
 	/*
 	 * Command descriptions for all provided commands
@@ -73,6 +77,7 @@ public void getCommandDescriptions( final CommandDescriptions descriptions )
 		{
 			descriptions.add( COPY_VIEWER_STATE, COPY_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS, "Copy the current viewer state as a string." );
 			descriptions.add( PASTE_VIEWER_STATE, PASTE_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS, "Paste the current viewer state from a string." );
+			descriptions.add( GENERATE_LINK_VIEWER_STATE, GENERATE_LINK_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS, "Generate a fiji uri link to the current viewer state and copy it to the clipboard." );
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -85,6 +90,22 @@ private static void copyViewerState(
 		ClipboardUtils.copyToClipboard( json.toString() );
 	}
 
+	private static void generateLinkViewerState(
+		final AbstractViewerPanel panel,
+		final ConverterSetups converterSetups,
+		final ResourceManager resources )
+{
+	final JsonElement json = Links.copyJson( panel, converterSetups, resources );
+		try{
+			final String link = Links.generateLink( json );
+			ClipboardUtils.copyToClipboard( link);
+			LOG.debug( "Generated link: {}", link );
+		}
+		catch (final UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
+			LOG.debug( "couldn't generate link from JSON:\n\"{}\"", json, e );
+		}
+}
+
 	private static void pasteViewerState(
 			final AbstractViewerPanel panel,
 			final ConverterSetups converterSetups,
@@ -133,5 +154,8 @@ public static void install(
 				COPY_VIEWER_STATE, COPY_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS );
 		actions.runnableAction( () -> pasteViewerState( panel, converterSetups, pasteSettings, resources ),
 				PASTE_VIEWER_STATE, PASTE_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS );
+		actions.runnableAction( () -> generateLinkViewerState( panel, converterSetups, resources ),
+				GENERATE_LINK_VIEWER_STATE, GENERATE_LINK_VIEWER_STATE_KEYS );
+				
 	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/Links.java b/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/Links.java
index 7f92eb80..fa2c4287 100644
--- a/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/Links.java
+++ b/src/main/java/bdv/tools/links/Links.java
@@ -6,7 +6,10 @@
 import static bdv.tools.links.PasteSettings.SourceMatchingMethod.BY_INDEX;
 import static bdv.tools.links.PasteSettings.SourceMatchingMethod.BY_SPEC_LOAD_MISSING;
 
+import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.lang.reflect.Type;
+import java.net.URLDecoder;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 
@@ -41,6 +44,8 @@ class Links
 {
 	private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger( Links.class );
 
+	final static String BASE_URL = "fiji://bdv?";
+
 	static JsonElement copyJson(
 			final AbstractViewerPanel panel,
 			final ConverterSetups converterSetups,
@@ -413,5 +418,11 @@ public JsonElement serialize(
 			}
 		}
 	}
+
+	public static String generateLink(JsonElement json) throws UnsupportedEncodingException{
+		final String jsonString = json.toString();
+		return BASE_URL + java.net.URLEncoder.encode(jsonString, java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8.name());
+	}
+	
 }
 
diff --git a/src/main/resources/bdv/ui/keymap/default.yaml b/src/main/resources/bdv/ui/keymap/default.yaml
index 918ca1a2..abba40a2 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/bdv/ui/keymap/default.yaml
+++ b/src/main/resources/bdv/ui/keymap/default.yaml
@@ -394,4 +394,8 @@
 - !mapping
   action: paste viewer state
   contexts: [bdv]
-  triggers: [ctrl V, meta V]
\ No newline at end of file
+  triggers: [ctrl V, meta V]
+- !mapping
+  action: generate link viewer state
+  contexts: [bdv]
+  triggers: [ctrl L, meta L]
\ No newline at end of file