diff --git a/adnc/model/optimizer.py b/adnc/model/optimizer.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0b1031e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/adnc/model/optimizer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+# Copyright 2018 Jörg Franke
+#
+# 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.
+# ==============================================================================
+import tensorflow as tf
+
+
+class Optimizer:
+    def __init__(self, config, loss, variables, use_locking=False):
+
+        self.use_locking = use_locking
+        self.learn_rate = config["learn_rate"]
+        self.optimizer = config["optimizer"]
+        self.optimizer_config = config["optimizer_config"]
+        self.gradient_clipping = config["gradient_clipping"]
+        self.weight_decay = config["weight_decay"]
+
+        if not isinstance(self.learn_rate, float):
+            self.learn_rate = tf.placeholder(tf.float32, shape=[])
+
+        if self.weight_decay:
+            with tf.variable_scope('weight_decay') as scope:
+                weight_decay = tf.reduce_sum(self.weight_decay * tf.stack([tf.nn.l2_loss(var) for var in variables]))
+                loss = loss + weight_decay
+
+        self.global_step = tf.get_variable('global_step', [], initializer=tf.constant_initializer(0),
+                                           trainable=False)
+
+        self.optimizer = self.get_optimizer()
+
+        self.gradients = self.optimizer.compute_gradients(loss, variables)
+
+        if self.gradient_clipping:
+            self.gradients = [(tf.clip_by_value(grad, -1 * self.gradient_clipping, self.gradient_clipping), var) for
+                              grad, var in self.gradients]
+        self.optimizer = self.optimizer.apply_gradients(self.gradients, self.global_step)
+
+    def get_optimizer(self):
+
+        if self.optimizer == 'adam':
+            optimizer = tf.train.AdamOptimizer(learning_rate=self.learn_rate, use_locking=self.use_locking,
+                                               epsilon=0.000001)
+        elif self.optimizer == 'rmsprop':
+            optimizer = tf.train.RMSPropOptimizer(learning_rate=self.learn_rate,
+                                                  momentum=self.optimizer_config['momentum'],
+                                                  use_locking=self.use_locking)
+        elif self.optimizer == 'momentum':
+            optimizer = tf.train.MomentumOptimizer(learning_rate=self.learn_rate,
+                                                   momentum=self.optimizer_config['momentum'],
+                                                   use_nesterov=self.optimizer_config['nesterov'],
+                                                   use_locking=self.use_locking)
+        elif self.optimizer == 'adadelta':
+            optimizer = tf.train.AdadeltaOptimizer(learning_rate=self.learn_rate, use_locking=self.use_locking)
+        elif self.optimizer == 'adagrad':
+            optimizer = tf.train.AdagradOptimizer(learning_rate=self.learn_rate, use_locking=self.use_locking)
+        elif self.optimizer == 'sgd':
+            optimizer = tf.train.GradientDescentOptimizer(learning_rate=self.learn_rate, use_locking=self.use_locking)
+        else:
+            raise UserWarning("Unknown optimizer")
+        return optimizer