diff --git a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/InternalServiceProviders.java b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/InternalServiceProviders.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0904b529d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/InternalServiceProviders.java
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017, gRPC Authors All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.grpc;
+
+import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
+import java.util.List;
+
+@Internal
+public final class InternalServiceProviders {
+  private InternalServiceProviders() {
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Accessor for method.
+   */
+  public static <T> T load(
+      Class<T> klass,
+      Iterable<Class<?>> hardcoded,
+      ClassLoader classLoader,
+      PriorityAccessor<T> priorityAccessor) {
+    return ServiceProviders.load(klass, hardcoded, classLoader, priorityAccessor);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Accessor for method.
+   */
+  public static <T> List<T> loadAll(
+      Class<T> klass,
+      Iterable<Class<?>> hardCodedClasses,
+      ClassLoader classLoader,
+      PriorityAccessor<T> priorityAccessor) {
+    return ServiceProviders.loadAll(klass, hardCodedClasses, classLoader, priorityAccessor);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Accessor for method.
+   */
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  public static <T> Iterable<T> getCandidatesViaServiceLoader(Class<T> klass, ClassLoader cl) {
+    return ServiceProviders.getCandidatesViaServiceLoader(klass, cl);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Accessor for method.
+   */
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  public static <T> Iterable<T> getCandidatesViaHardCoded(
+      Class<T> klass, Iterable<Class<?>> hardcoded) {
+    return ServiceProviders.getCandidatesViaHardCoded(klass, hardcoded);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Accessor for {@link ServiceProviders#isAndroid}.
+   */
+  public static boolean isAndroid(ClassLoader cl) {
+    return ServiceProviders.isAndroid(cl);
+  }
+
+  public interface PriorityAccessor<T> extends ServiceProviders.PriorityAccessor<T> {}
+}
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/ServiceProviders.java b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/ServiceProviders.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..22d8ee173c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/io/grpc/ServiceProviders.java
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2017, gRPC Authors All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.grpc;
+
+import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Comparator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.ServiceConfigurationError;
+import java.util.ServiceLoader;
+
+final class ServiceProviders {
+  private ServiceProviders() {
+    // do not instantiate
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * If this is not Android, returns the highest priority implementation of the class via
+   * {@link ServiceLoader}.
+   * If this is Android, returns an instance of the highest priority class in {@code hardcoded}.
+   */
+  public static <T> T load(
+      Class<T> klass,
+      Iterable<Class<?>> hardcoded,
+      ClassLoader cl,
+      PriorityAccessor<T> priorityAccessor) {
+    List<T> candidates = loadAll(klass, hardcoded, cl, priorityAccessor);
+    if (candidates.isEmpty()) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    return candidates.get(0);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * If this is not Android, returns all available implementations discovered via
+   * {@link ServiceLoader}.
+   * If this is Android, returns all available implementations in {@code hardcoded}.
+   * The list is sorted in descending priority order.
+   */
+  public static <T> List<T> loadAll(
+      Class<T> klass,
+      Iterable<Class<?>> hardcoded,
+      ClassLoader cl,
+      final PriorityAccessor<T> priorityAccessor) {
+    Iterable<T> candidates;
+    if (isAndroid(cl)) {
+      candidates = getCandidatesViaHardCoded(klass, hardcoded);
+    } else {
+      candidates = getCandidatesViaServiceLoader(klass, cl);
+    }
+    List<T> list = new ArrayList<T>();
+    for (T current: candidates) {
+      if (!priorityAccessor.isAvailable(current)) {
+        continue;
+      }
+      list.add(current);
+    }
+
+    // Sort descending based on priority.
+    Collections.sort(list, Collections.reverseOrder(new Comparator<T>() {
+      @Override
+      public int compare(T f1, T f2) {
+        return priorityAccessor.getPriority(f1) - priorityAccessor.getPriority(f2);
+      }
+    }));
+    return Collections.unmodifiableList(list);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Returns true if the {@link ClassLoader} is for android.
+   */
+  static boolean isAndroid(ClassLoader cl) {
+    try {
+      // Specify a class loader instead of null because we may be running under Robolectric
+      Class.forName("android.app.Application", /*initialize=*/ false, cl);
+      return true;
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      // If Application isn't loaded, it might as well not be Android.
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Loads service providers for the {@code klass} service using {@link ServiceLoader}.
+   */
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  public static <T> Iterable<T> getCandidatesViaServiceLoader(Class<T> klass, ClassLoader cl) {
+    Iterable<T> i = ServiceLoader.load(klass, cl);
+    // Attempt to load using the context class loader and ServiceLoader.
+    // This allows frameworks like http://aries.apache.org/modules/spi-fly.html to plug in.
+    if (!i.iterator().hasNext()) {
+      i = ServiceLoader.load(klass);
+    }
+    return i;
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Load providers from a hard-coded list. This avoids using getResource(), which has performance
+   * problems on Android (see https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/issues/2037).
+   */
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  static <T> Iterable<T> getCandidatesViaHardCoded(Class<T> klass, Iterable<Class<?>> hardcoded) {
+    List<T> list = new ArrayList<T>();
+    for (Class<?> candidate : hardcoded) {
+      list.add(create(klass, candidate));
+    }
+    return list;
+  }
+
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  static <T> T create(Class<T> klass, Class<?> rawClass) {
+    try {
+      return rawClass.asSubclass(klass).getConstructor().newInstance();
+    } catch (Throwable t) {
+      throw new ServiceConfigurationError(
+          String.format("Provider %s could not be instantiated %s", rawClass.getName(), t), t);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * An interface that allows us to get priority information about a provider.
+   */
+  public interface PriorityAccessor<T> {
+    /**
+     * Checks this provider is available for use, taking the current environment into consideration.
+     * If {@code false}, no other methods are safe to be called.
+     */
+    boolean isAvailable(T provider);
+
+    /**
+     * A priority, from 0 to 10 that this provider should be used, taking the current environment
+     * into consideration. 5 should be considered the default, and then tweaked based on environment
+     * detection. A priority of 0 does not imply that the provider wouldn't work; just that it
+     * should be last in line.
+     */
+    int getPriority(T provider);
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest.java b/core/src/test/java/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7337fe90d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/java/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,316 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2015, gRPC Authors All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.grpc;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertSame;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
+import io.grpc.InternalServiceProviders.PriorityAccessor;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.ServiceConfigurationError;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
+
+/** Unit tests for {@link ServiceProviders}. */
+@RunWith(JUnit4.class)
+public class ServiceProvidersTest {
+  private static final List<Class<?>> NO_HARDCODED = Collections.emptyList();
+  private static final PriorityAccessor<FooProvider> ACCESSOR =
+      new PriorityAccessor<FooProvider>() {
+        @Override
+        public boolean isAvailable(FooProvider provider) {
+          return provider.isAvailable();
+        }
+
+        @Override
+        public int getPriority(FooProvider provider) {
+          return provider.priority();
+        }
+      };
+  private final String serviceFile = "META-INF/services/io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider";
+
+  @Test
+  public void contextClassLoaderProvider() {
+    ClassLoader ccl = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
+    try {
+      ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(
+          getClass().getClassLoader(),
+          serviceFile,
+          "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-multipleProvider.txt");
+
+      // test that the context classloader is used as fallback
+      ClassLoader rcll = new ReplacingClassLoader(
+          getClass().getClassLoader(),
+          serviceFile,
+          "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-empty.txt");
+      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(rcll);
+      assertEquals(
+          Available7Provider.class,
+          ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR).getClass());
+    } finally {
+      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(ccl);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void noProvider() {
+    ClassLoader ccl = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
+    try {
+      ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(
+          getClass().getClassLoader(),
+          serviceFile,
+          "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-doesNotExist.txt");
+      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(cl);
+      assertNull(ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR));
+    } finally {
+      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(ccl);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void multipleProvider() throws Exception {
+    ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(getClass().getClassLoader(), serviceFile,
+        "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-multipleProvider.txt");
+    assertSame(
+        Available7Provider.class,
+        ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR).getClass());
+
+    List<FooProvider> providers = ServiceProviders.loadAll(
+          FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR);
+    assertEquals(3, providers.size());
+    assertEquals(Available7Provider.class, providers.get(0).getClass());
+    assertEquals(Available5Provider.class, providers.get(1).getClass());
+    assertEquals(Available0Provider.class, providers.get(2).getClass());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void unavailableProvider() {
+    // tries to load Available7 and UnavailableProvider, which has priority 10
+    ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(getClass().getClassLoader(), serviceFile,
+        "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unavailableProvider.txt");
+    assertEquals(
+        Available7Provider.class,
+        ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR).getClass());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void unknownClassProvider() {
+    ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(getClass().getClassLoader(), serviceFile,
+        "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unknownClassProvider.txt");
+    try {
+      FooProvider ignored = ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR);
+      fail("Exception expected");
+    } catch (ServiceConfigurationError e) {
+      // noop
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void exceptionSurfacedToCaller_failAtInit() {
+    ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(getClass().getClassLoader(), serviceFile,
+        "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtInitProvider.txt");
+    try {
+      // Even though there is a working provider, if any providers fail then we should fail
+      // completely to avoid returning something unexpected.
+      FooProvider ignored = ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR);
+      fail("Expected exception");
+    } catch (ServiceConfigurationError expected) {
+      // noop
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void exceptionSurfacedToCaller_failAtPriority() {
+    ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(getClass().getClassLoader(), serviceFile,
+        "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtPriorityProvider.txt");
+    try {
+      // The exception should be surfaced to the caller
+      FooProvider ignored = ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR);
+      fail("Expected exception");
+    } catch (FailAtPriorityProvider.PriorityException expected) {
+      // noop
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void exceptionSurfacedToCaller_failAtAvailable() {
+    ClassLoader cl = new ReplacingClassLoader(getClass().getClassLoader(), serviceFile,
+        "io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtAvailableProvider.txt");
+    try {
+      // The exception should be surfaced to the caller
+      FooProvider ignored = ServiceProviders.load(FooProvider.class, NO_HARDCODED, cl, ACCESSOR);
+      fail("Expected exception");
+    } catch (FailAtAvailableProvider.AvailableException expected) {
+      // noop
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void getCandidatesViaHardCoded_multipleProvider() throws Exception {
+    Iterator<FooProvider> candidates = ServiceProviders.getCandidatesViaHardCoded(
+        FooProvider.class,
+        ImmutableList.<Class<?>>of(
+            Available7Provider.class,
+            Available0Provider.class))
+        .iterator();
+    assertEquals(Available7Provider.class, candidates.next().getClass());
+    assertEquals(Available0Provider.class, candidates.next().getClass());
+    assertFalse(candidates.hasNext());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void getCandidatesViaHardCoded_failAtInit() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      Iterable<FooProvider> ignored = ServiceProviders.getCandidatesViaHardCoded(
+          FooProvider.class,
+          Collections.<Class<?>>singletonList(FailAtInitProvider.class));
+      fail("Expected exception");
+    } catch (ServiceConfigurationError expected) {
+      // noop
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void getCandidatesViaHardCoded_failAtInit_moreCandidates() throws Exception {
+    try {
+      Iterable<FooProvider> ignored = ServiceProviders.getCandidatesViaHardCoded(
+          FooProvider.class,
+          ImmutableList.<Class<?>>of(FailAtInitProvider.class, Available0Provider.class));
+      fail("Expected exception");
+    } catch (ServiceConfigurationError expected) {
+      // noop
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void create_throwsErrorOnMisconfiguration() throws Exception {
+    class PrivateClass {}
+
+    try {
+      FooProvider ignored = ServiceProviders.create(FooProvider.class, PrivateClass.class);
+      fail("Expected exception");
+    } catch (ServiceConfigurationError expected) {
+      assertTrue("Expected ClassCastException cause: " + expected.getCause(),
+          expected.getCause() instanceof ClassCastException);
+    }
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * A provider class for this unit test.
+   */
+  public abstract static class FooProvider {
+    abstract boolean isAvailable();
+
+    abstract int priority();
+  }
+
+  private static class BaseProvider extends FooProvider {
+    private final boolean isAvailable;
+    private final int priority;
+
+    public BaseProvider(boolean isAvailable, int priority) {
+      this.isAvailable = isAvailable;
+      this.priority = priority;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isAvailable() {
+      return isAvailable;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int priority() {
+      return priority;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static final class Available0Provider extends BaseProvider {
+    public Available0Provider() {
+      super(true, 0);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static final class Available5Provider extends BaseProvider {
+    public Available5Provider() {
+      super(true, 5);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static final class Available7Provider extends BaseProvider {
+    public Available7Provider() {
+      super(true, 7);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static final class UnavailableProvider extends BaseProvider {
+    public UnavailableProvider() {
+      super(false, 10);
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static final class FailAtInitProvider extends FooProvider {
+    public FailAtInitProvider() {
+      throw new RuntimeException("intentionally broken");
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public boolean isAvailable() {
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int priority() {
+      return 0;
+    }
+  }
+
+  public static final class FailAtPriorityProvider extends FooProvider {
+    @Override
+    public boolean isAvailable() {
+      return true;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int priority() {
+      throw new PriorityException();
+    }
+
+    public static final class PriorityException extends RuntimeException {}
+  }
+
+  public static final class FailAtAvailableProvider extends FooProvider {
+    @Override
+    public boolean isAvailable() {
+      throw new AvailableException();
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public int priority() {
+      return 0;
+    }
+
+    public static final class AvailableException extends RuntimeException {}
+  }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-empty.txt b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-empty.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtAvailableProvider.txt b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtAvailableProvider.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..61cc58e152
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtAvailableProvider.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$FailAtAvailableProvider
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$Available5Provider
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtInitProvider.txt b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtInitProvider.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c2ec06a1b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtInitProvider.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$FailAtInitProvider
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$Available5Provider
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtPriorityProvider.txt b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtPriorityProvider.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3a3aa79293
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-failAtPriorityProvider.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$FailAtPriorityProvider
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$Available5Provider
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-multipleProvider.txt b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-multipleProvider.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cb24790329
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-multipleProvider.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$Available5Provider
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$Available7Provider
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$Available0Provider
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unavailableProvider.txt b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unavailableProvider.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..55175ff180
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unavailableProvider.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$UnavailableProvider
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$Available7Provider
diff --git a/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unknownClassProvider.txt b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unknownClassProvider.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..58c264107c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/test/resources/io/grpc/ServiceProvidersTest$FooProvider-unknownClassProvider.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+io.grpc.ServiceProvidersTest$UnknownClassProvider