diff --git a/collects/file/convertible.rkt b/collects/file/convertible.rkt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6af83fb1d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/collects/file/convertible.rkt
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#lang racket/base
+
+(provide prop:convertible convertible? convert)
+
+(define-values (prop:convertible convertible? convertible-ref)
+  (make-struct-type-property 'convertible))
+
+(define (convert v target [default #f])
+  (unless (convertible? v)
+    (raise-type-error 'convert "convertible" 0 v target))
+  (unless (symbol? target)
+    (raise-type-error 'convert "symbol" 1 v target))
+  ((convertible-ref v) v target default))
diff --git a/collects/file/scribblings/convertible.scrbl b/collects/file/scribblings/convertible.scrbl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f73554127
--- /dev/null
+++ b/collects/file/scribblings/convertible.scrbl
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#lang scribble/doc
+@(require scribble/manual
+          (for-label file/convertible))
+
+@title[#:tag "convertible"]{Convertible: Data-Conversion Protocol}
+
+@defmodule[file/convertible]
+
+The @schememodname[file/convertible] library provides a protocol to
+mediate between providers of data in different possible formats and
+consumers of the formats. For example, a datatype that implements
+@racket[prop:convertible] might be able to convert itself to a GIF or
+PDF stream, in which case it would produce data for
+@racket['gif-bytes] or @racket['pdf-bytes] requests.
+
+Any symbol can be used for a conversion request, but the following
+should be considered standard:
+
+@itemlist[
+ #:style 'compact
+
+ @item{@scheme['text] --- a string for human-readable text}
+ @item{@scheme['gif-bytes] --- a byte string containing a GIF image encoding}
+ @item{@scheme['png-bytes] --- a byte string containing a PNG image encoding}
+ @item{@scheme['ps-bytes] --- a byte string containing a PostScript document}
+ @item{@scheme['pdf-bytes] --- a byte string containing a PDF document}
+]
+
+@defthing[prop:convertible struct-type-property?]{
+
+A property whose value should be a procedure of three arguments. The
+procedure is called when a structure with the property is passed to
+@racket[convert]; the first argument to the procedure is the
+structure, the second argument is a symbol for the requested
+conversion, and the third argument is a value to return (typically
+@racket[#f] if the conversion is not supported. The procedure's result
+depends on the requested conversion.}
+
+@defproc[(convertible? [v any/c]) boolean?]{
+
+Returns @racket[#t] if @racket[v] supports the conversion protocol,
+@racket[#f] otherwise.}
+
+@defproc[(convert [v convertible?] [request symbol?] [default any/c #f])
+         any]{
+
+
+Requests a data conversion from @racket[v], where @racket[request]
+indicates the type of requested data and @racket[default] is the value
+that the converter should return if it cannot produce data in the
+format indicated by @racket[request].}
+
diff --git a/collects/file/scribblings/file.scrbl b/collects/file/scribblings/file.scrbl
index be439ecf01..e9ccc91601 100644
--- a/collects/file/scribblings/file.scrbl
+++ b/collects/file/scribblings/file.scrbl
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 @table-of-contents[]
 
+@include-section["convertible.scrbl"]
 @include-section["gzip.scrbl"]
 @include-section["gunzip.scrbl"]
 @include-section["zip.scrbl"]