diff --git a/lib/jekyll.rb b/lib/jekyll.rb
index 05c539ff..7938031d 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll.rb
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ require 'jekyll/tags/highlight'
 require 'jekyll/tags/include'
 require 'jekyll/albino'
 require 'jekyll/static_file'
+require 'jekyll/converters/markdown'
+require 'jekyll/converters/textile'
+require 'jekyll/converters/identity'
 
 module Jekyll
   # Default options. Overriden by values in _config.yml or command-line opts.
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/identity.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/identity.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b21dda7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/identity.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+module Jekyll
+
+  class IdentityConverter
+
+    def initialize(config = {})
+
+    end
+
+    def content_type
+      nil
+    end
+
+    def matches(ext)
+      true
+    end
+
+    def output_ext(ext)
+      ext
+    end
+
+    def convert(content)
+      content
+    end
+
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3c1aeb50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/markdown.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+module Jekyll
+
+  class MarkdownConverter
+
+    def initialize(config = {})
+      # Set the Markdown interpreter (and Maruku self.config, if necessary)
+      case config['markdown']
+        when 'rdiscount'
+          begin
+            require 'rdiscount'
+
+            def convert(content)
+              RDiscount.new(content).to_html
+            end
+
+          rescue LoadError
+            puts 'You must have the rdiscount gem installed first'
+          end
+        when 'maruku'
+          begin
+            require 'maruku'
+
+            def convert(content)
+              Maruku.new(content).to_html
+            end
+
+            if config['maruku']['use_divs']
+              require 'maruku/ext/div'
+              puts 'Maruku: Using extended syntax for div elements.'
+            end
+
+            if config['maruku']['use_tex']
+              require 'maruku/ext/math'
+              puts "Maruku: Using LaTeX extension. Images in `#{config['maruku']['png_dir']}`."
+
+              # Switch off MathML output
+              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_mathml] = false
+              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_engine] = 'none'
+
+              # Turn on math to PNG support with blahtex
+              # Resulting PNGs stored in `images/latex`
+              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_png] = true
+              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_engine] =  config['maruku']['png_engine']
+              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_dir] = config['maruku']['png_dir']
+              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_url] = config['maruku']['png_url']
+            end
+          rescue LoadError
+            puts "The maruku gem is required for markdown support!"
+          end
+        else
+          raise "Invalid Markdown processor: '#{config['markdown']}' -- did you mean 'maruku' or 'rdiscount'?"
+      end
+    end
+
+    def content_type
+      "markdown"
+    end
+
+    def matches(ext)
+      ext =~ /(markdown|mkdn?|md)/i
+    end
+
+    def output_ext(ext)
+      ".html"
+    end
+
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..50d28276
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+module Jekyll
+
+  class TextileConverter
+
+    def initialize(config = {})
+
+    end
+
+    def content_type
+      "textile"
+    end
+
+    def matches(ext)
+      ext =~ /textile/i
+    end
+
+    def output_ext(ext)
+      ".html"
+    end
+
+    def convert(content)
+      RedCloth.new(content).to_html
+    end
+
+  end
+
+end
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
index 644dd053..96e18523 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/convertible.rb
@@ -22,13 +22,13 @@ module Jekyll
     # Returns nothing
     def read_yaml(base, name)
       self.content = File.read(File.join(base, name))
-      
+
       if self.content =~ /^(---\s*\n.*?\n?)^(---\s*$\n?)/m
         self.content = self.content[($1.size + $2.size)..-1]
-      
+
         self.data = YAML.load($1)
       end
-      
+
       self.data ||= {}
     end
 
@@ -36,26 +36,14 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns nothing
     def transform
-      case self.content_type
-      when 'textile'
-        self.content = self.site.textile(self.content)
-      when 'markdown'
-        self.content = self.site.markdown(self.content)
-      end
+      self.content = converter.convert(self.content)
     end
 
     # Determine the extension depending on content_type
     #
     # Returns the extensions for the output file
     def output_ext
-      case self.content_type
-      when 'textile'
-        ".html"
-      when 'markdown'
-        ".html"
-      else
-        self.ext
-      end
+      converter.output_ext(self.ext)
     end
 
     # Determine which formatting engine to use based on this convertible's
@@ -63,13 +51,11 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns one of :textile, :markdown or :unknown
     def content_type
-      case self.ext[1..-1]
-      when /textile/i
-        return 'textile'
-      when /markdown/i, /mkdn/i, /md/i, /mkd/i
-        return 'markdown'
-      end
-      return 'unknown'
+      converter.content_type
+    end
+
+    def converter
+      @converter ||= self.site.converters.find { |c| c.matches(self.ext) }
     end
 
     # Add any necessary layouts to this convertible document
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/post.rb b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
index cfec6c2e..91b6cfe9 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/post.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/post.rb
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ module Jekyll
         "month"      => date.strftime("%m"),
         "day"        => date.strftime("%d"),
         "title"      => CGI.escape(slug),
-        "categories" => categories.join('/')
+        "categories" => categories.join('/'),
+        "output_ext" => self.output_ext
       }.inject(template) { |result, token|
         result.gsub(/:#{token.first}/, token.last)
       }.gsub(/\/\//, "/")
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/site.rb b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
index 4315e2cb..17243296 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/site.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/site.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ module Jekyll
   class Site
     attr_accessor :config, :layouts, :posts, :pages, :static_files, :categories, :exclude,
                   :source, :dest, :lsi, :pygments, :permalink_style, :tags, :time,
-                  :future
+                  :future, :converters
 
     # Initialize the site
     #   +config+ is a Hash containing site configurations details
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ module Jekyll
       self.permalink_style = config['permalink'].to_sym
       self.exclude         = config['exclude'] || []
       self.future          = config['future']
+      self.converters      = []
 
       self.reset
       self.setup
@@ -38,57 +39,11 @@ module Jekyll
       # Check to see if LSI is enabled.
       require 'classifier' if self.lsi
 
-      # Set the Markdown interpreter (and Maruku self.config, if necessary)
-      case self.config['markdown']
-        when 'rdiscount'
-          begin
-            require 'rdiscount'
+      # converters
+      converters << Jekyll::MarkdownConverter.new(self.config)
+      converters << Jekyll::TextileConverter.new(self.config)
+      converters << Jekyll::IdentityConverter.new(self.config)
 
-            def markdown(content)
-              RDiscount.new(content).to_html
-            end
-
-          rescue LoadError
-            puts 'You must have the rdiscount gem installed first'
-          end
-        when 'maruku'
-          begin
-            require 'maruku'
-
-            def markdown(content)
-              Maruku.new(content).to_html
-            end
-
-            if self.config['maruku']['use_divs']
-              require 'maruku/ext/div'
-              puts 'Maruku: Using extended syntax for div elements.'
-            end
-
-            if self.config['maruku']['use_tex']
-              require 'maruku/ext/math'
-              puts "Maruku: Using LaTeX extension. Images in `#{self.config['maruku']['png_dir']}`."
-
-              # Switch off MathML output
-              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_mathml] = false
-              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_engine] = 'none'
-
-              # Turn on math to PNG support with blahtex
-              # Resulting PNGs stored in `images/latex`
-              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_math_output_png] = true
-              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_engine] =  self.config['maruku']['png_engine']
-              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_dir] = self.config['maruku']['png_dir']
-              MaRuKu::Globals[:html_png_url] = self.config['maruku']['png_url']
-            end
-          rescue LoadError
-            puts "The maruku gem is required for markdown support!"
-          end
-        else
-          raise "Invalid Markdown processor: '#{self.config['markdown']}' -- did you mean 'maruku' or 'rdiscount'?"
-      end
-    end
-
-    def textile(content)
-      RedCloth.new(content).to_html
     end
 
     # Do the actual work of processing the site and generating the
diff --git a/test/test_tags.rb b/test/test_tags.rb
index 64119572..8659ffd7 100644
--- a/test/test_tags.rb
+++ b/test/test_tags.rb
@@ -2,26 +2,17 @@ require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/helper'
 
 class TestTags < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
-  def create_post(content, override = {}, markdown = true)
+  def create_post(content, override = {}, content_type = "markdown")
     stub(Jekyll).configuration do
       Jekyll::DEFAULTS.merge({'pygments' => true}).merge(override)
     end
     site = Site.new(Jekyll.configuration)
     info = { :filters => [Jekyll::Filters], :registers => { :site => site } }
-
-    if markdown
-      payload = {"content_type" => "markdown"}
-    else
-      payload = {"content_type" => "textile"}
-    end
+    payload = {"content_type" => content_type}
+    @converter = site.converters.find { |c| c.content_type == content_type }
 
     @result = Liquid::Template.parse(content).render(payload, info)
-
-    if markdown
-      @result = site.markdown(@result)
-    else
-      @result = site.textile(@result)
-    end
+    @result = @converter.convert(@result)
   end
 
   def fill_post(code, override = {})
@@ -82,7 +73,7 @@ CONTENT
 
     context "using Textile" do
       setup do
-        create_post(@content, {}, false)
+        create_post(@content, {}, "textile")
       end
 
       # Broken in RedCloth 4.1.9