diff --git a/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php b/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php
index f42f8f7b4cde..9368d102d5c9 100644
--- a/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php
+++ b/filter/mediaplugin/filter.php
@@ -92,6 +92,15 @@ function filter($text) {
             $newtext = preg_replace_callback($search, 'mediaplugin_filter_youtube_callback', $newtext);
         }
 
+        if ($CFG->filter_mediaplugin_enable_img) {
+            $search = '/<a.*?href="([^<]+\.jpg)"[^>]*>(.*?)<\/a>/is';
+            $newtext = preg_replace_callback($search, 'mediaplugin_filter_img_callback', $newtext);
+            $search = '/<a.*?href="([^<]+\.png)"[^>]*>(.*?)<\/a>/is';
+            $newtext = preg_replace_callback($search, 'mediaplugin_filter_img_callback', $newtext);
+            $search = '/<a.*?href="([^<]+\.gif)"[^>]*>(.*?)<\/a>/is';
+            $newtext = preg_replace_callback($search, 'mediaplugin_filter_img_callback', $newtext);
+        }
+
         if (empty($newtext) or $newtext === $text) {
             // error or not filtered
             unset($newtext);
@@ -230,6 +239,16 @@ class="mediaplugin mediaplugin_youtube" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
            '</object>';
 }
 
+/**
+ * Change links to images into embedded images
+ */
+function mediaplugin_filter_img_callback($link, $autostart=false) {
+    $url = addslashes_js($link[1]);
+    $info = addslashes_js($link[2]);
+
+    return '<img class="mediaplugin mediaplugin_img" alt="" title="'.$info.'" src="'.$url.'" />';
+}
+
 /**
  * Embed video using window media player if available
  */
diff --git a/filter/mediaplugin/filtersettings.php b/filter/mediaplugin/filtersettings.php
index bb5893d066a8..3068a79c44d1 100644
--- a/filter/mediaplugin/filtersettings.php
+++ b/filter/mediaplugin/filtersettings.php
@@ -22,4 +22,6 @@
 
 $settings->add(new admin_setting_configcheckbox('filter_mediaplugin_enable_youtube', get_string('mediapluginyoutube','admin'), '', 1));
 
+$settings->add(new admin_setting_configcheckbox('filter_mediaplugin_enable_img', get_string('mediapluginimg','admin'), '', 1));
+
 ?>
diff --git a/lang/en_utf8/admin.php b/lang/en_utf8/admin.php
index 2ec37196f17c..fdb18f767322 100644
--- a/lang/en_utf8/admin.php
+++ b/lang/en_utf8/admin.php
@@ -560,6 +560,7 @@
 $string['mediapluginrpm'] = 'Enable .rpm filter';
 $string['mediapluginswf'] = 'Enable .swf filter';
 $string['mediapluginyoutube'] = 'Enable YouTube links filter';
+$string['mediapluginimg'] = 'Enable auto-embedding of linked images';
 $string['mediapluginswfnote'] = 'As a default security measure, normal users should not be allowed to embed swf flash files.';
 $string['mediapluginwmv'] = 'Enable .wmv filter';
 $string['memcachedhosts'] = 'memcached hosts';