diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converter.rb b/lib/jekyll/converter.rb
index 50965be1..faacfb7d 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converter.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converter.rb
@@ -26,10 +26,16 @@ module Jekyll
         @priority || :normal
       end
 
-      # priority order of this converter
-      def content_type(content_type = nil)
-        @content_type = content_type if content_type
-        @content_type || self.name.downcase.gsub(/^.*::/, '').gsub(/converter$/, '')
+      # prefix for highlighting
+      def pygments_prefix(pygments_prefix = nil)
+        @pygments_prefix = pygments_prefix if pygments_prefix
+        @pygments_prefix
+      end
+
+      # suffix for highlighting
+      def pygments_suffix(pygments_suffix = nil)
+        @pygments_suffix = pygments_suffix if pygments_suffix
+        @pygments_suffix
       end
 
       # Spaceship is priority [higher -> lower]
@@ -41,8 +47,14 @@ module Jekyll
       end
     end
 
-    def content_type
-      self.class.content_type
+    # prefix for highlighting
+    def pygments_prefix
+      self.class.pygments_prefix
+    end
+
+    # suffix for highlighting
+    def pygments_suffix
+      self.class.pygments_suffix
     end
 
   end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
index c7cdbbd5..a9056c7d 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 module Jekyll
   class MarkdownConverter < Converter
+    pygments_prefix '\n'
+    pygments_suffix '\n'
 
     def initialize(config = {})
       # Set the Markdown interpreter (and Maruku self.config, if necessary)
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
index 79eb5476..5a4d68cd 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 module Jekyll
   class TextileConverter < Converter
+    pygments_prefix '<notextile>'
+    pygments_suffix '</notextile>'
 
     def initialize(config = {})
 
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
index 96e18523..b76157ec 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
@@ -46,14 +46,8 @@ module Jekyll
       converter.output_ext(self.ext)
     end
 
-    # Determine which formatting engine to use based on this convertible's
+    # Determine which converter to use based on this convertible's
     # extension
-    #
-    # Returns one of :textile, :markdown or :unknown
-    def content_type
-      converter.content_type
-    end
-
     def converter
       @converter ||= self.site.converters.find { |c| c.matches(self.ext) }
     end
@@ -67,7 +61,8 @@ module Jekyll
       info = { :filters => [Jekyll::Filters], :registers => { :site => self.site } }
 
       # render and transform content (this becomes the final content of the object)
-      payload["content_type"] = self.content_type
+      payload["pygments_prefix"] = converter.pygments_prefix
+      payload["pygments_suffix"] = converter.pygments_suffix
       self.content = Liquid::Template.parse(self.content).render(payload, info)
       self.transform
 
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
index 046cf290..84cd1a41 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/tags/highlight.rb
@@ -31,11 +31,9 @@ module Jekyll
 
     def render_pygments(context, code)
       output = add_code_tags(Albino.new(code, @lang).to_s(@options), @lang)
-      case context["content_type"]
-        when "markdown" then "\n" + output + "\n"
-        when "textile" then "<notextile>" + output + "</notextile>"
-        else output
-      end
+      output = context["pygments_prefix"] + output if context["pygments_prefix"]
+      output = output + context["pygments_suffix"] if context["pygments_suffix"]
+      output
     end
 
     def render_codehighlighter(context, code)
diff --git a/test/test_tags.rb b/test/test_tags.rb
index 8659ffd7..ac92deda 100644
--- a/test/test_tags.rb
+++ b/test/test_tags.rb
@@ -2,14 +2,15 @@ require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/helper'
 
 class TestTags < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
-  def create_post(content, override = {}, content_type = "markdown")
+  def create_post(content, override = {}, converter_class = Jekyll::MarkdownConverter)
     stub(Jekyll).configuration do
       Jekyll::DEFAULTS.merge({'pygments' => true}).merge(override)
     end
     site = Site.new(Jekyll.configuration)
     info = { :filters => [Jekyll::Filters], :registers => { :site => site } }
-    payload = {"content_type" => content_type}
-    @converter = site.converters.find { |c| c.content_type == content_type }
+    @converter = site.converters.find { |c| c.class == converter_class }
+    payload = { "pygments_prefix" => @converter.pygments_prefix,
+                "pygments_suffix" => @converter.pygments_suffix }
 
     @result = Liquid::Template.parse(content).render(payload, info)
     @result = @converter.convert(@result)
@@ -73,7 +74,7 @@ CONTENT
 
     context "using Textile" do
       setup do
-        create_post(@content, {}, "textile")
+        create_post(@content, {}, Jekyll::TextileConverter)
       end
 
       # Broken in RedCloth 4.1.9