diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FilterCommandsTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FilterCommandsTest.java
index 5fb894e..0d31811 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FilterCommandsTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FilterCommandsTest.java
@@ -154,4 +154,98 @@ public void testBuiltinCleanFilter()
 		config.setString("filter", "test", "clean", null);
 		config.save();
 	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testBuiltinSmudgeFilter() throws IOException, GitAPIException {
+		String builtinCommandName = "jgit://builtin/test/smudge";
+		FilterCommandRegistry.register(builtinCommandName,
+				new TestCommandFactory('s'));
+		StoredConfig config = git.getRepository().getConfig();
+		config.setString("filter", "test", "smudge", builtinCommandName);
+		config.save();
+
+		writeTrashFile(".gitattributes", "*.txt filter=test");
+		git.add().addFilepattern(".gitattributes").call();
+		git.commit().setMessage("add filter").call();
+
+		writeTrashFile("Test.txt", "Hello again");
+		git.add().addFilepattern("Test.txt").call();
+		assertEquals(
+				"[.gitattributes, mode:100644, content:*.txt filter=test][Test.txt, mode:100644, content:Hello again]",
+				indexState(CONTENT));
+		assertEquals("Hello again", read("Test.txt"));
+		deleteTrashFile("Test.txt");
+		git.checkout().addPath("Test.txt").call();
+		assertEquals("sHseslslsos sasgsasisn", read("Test.txt"));
+
+		writeTrashFile("Test.bin", "Hello again");
+		git.add().addFilepattern("Test.bin").call();
+		assertEquals(
+				"[.gitattributes, mode:100644, content:*.txt filter=test][Test.bin, mode:100644, content:Hello again][Test.txt, mode:100644, content:Hello again]",
+				indexState(CONTENT));
+		deleteTrashFile("Test.bin");
+		git.checkout().addPath("Test.bin").call();
+		assertEquals("Hello again", read("Test.bin"));
+
+		config.setString("filter", "test", "clean", null);
+		config.save();
+
+		git.add().addFilepattern("Test.txt").call();
+		assertEquals(
+				"[.gitattributes, mode:100644, content:*.txt filter=test][Test.bin, mode:100644, content:Hello again][Test.txt, mode:100644, content:sHseslslsos sasgsasisn]",
+				indexState(CONTENT));
+
+		config.setString("filter", "test", "clean", null);
+		config.save();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testBuiltinCleanAndSmudgeFilter() throws IOException, GitAPIException {
+		String builtinCommandPrefix = "jgit://builtin/test/";
+		FilterCommandRegistry.register(builtinCommandPrefix + "smudge",
+				new TestCommandFactory('s'));
+		FilterCommandRegistry.register(builtinCommandPrefix + "clean",
+				new TestCommandFactory('c'));
+		StoredConfig config = git.getRepository().getConfig();
+		config.setString("filter", "test", "smudge", builtinCommandPrefix+"smudge");
+		config.setString("filter", "test", "clean",
+				builtinCommandPrefix + "clean");
+		config.save();
+
+		writeTrashFile(".gitattributes", "*.txt filter=test");
+		git.add().addFilepattern(".gitattributes").call();
+		git.commit().setMessage("add filter").call();
+
+		writeTrashFile("Test.txt", "Hello again");
+		git.add().addFilepattern("Test.txt").call();
+		assertEquals(
+				"[.gitattributes, mode:100644, content:*.txt filter=test][Test.txt, mode:100644, content:cHceclclcoc cacgcacicn]",
+				indexState(CONTENT));
+		assertEquals("Hello again", read("Test.txt"));
+		deleteTrashFile("Test.txt");
+		git.checkout().addPath("Test.txt").call();
+		assertEquals("scsHscsescslscslscsoscs scsascsgscsascsiscsn",
+				read("Test.txt"));
+
+		writeTrashFile("Test.bin", "Hello again");
+		git.add().addFilepattern("Test.bin").call();
+		assertEquals(
+				"[.gitattributes, mode:100644, content:*.txt filter=test][Test.bin, mode:100644, content:Hello again][Test.txt, mode:100644, content:cHceclclcoc cacgcacicn]",
+				indexState(CONTENT));
+		deleteTrashFile("Test.bin");
+		git.checkout().addPath("Test.bin").call();
+		assertEquals("Hello again", read("Test.bin"));
+
+		config.setString("filter", "test", "clean", null);
+		config.save();
+
+		git.add().addFilepattern("Test.txt").call();
+		assertEquals(
+				"[.gitattributes, mode:100644, content:*.txt filter=test][Test.bin, mode:100644, content:Hello again][Test.txt, mode:100644, content:scsHscsescslscslscsoscs scsascsgscsascsiscsn]",
+				indexState(CONTENT));
+
+		config.setString("filter", "test", "clean", null);
+		config.save();
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
index 327ca0a..2c721ea 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/resources/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.properties
@@ -279,6 +279,7 @@
 expectedPktLineWithService=expected pkt-line with ''# service=-'', got ''{0}''
 expectedReceivedContentType=expected Content-Type {0}; received Content-Type {1}
 expectedReportForRefNotReceived={0}: expected report for ref {1} not received
+failedToDetermineFilterDefinition=An exception occured while determining filter definitions
 failedUpdatingRefs=failed updating refs
 failureDueToOneOfTheFollowing=Failure due to one of the following:
 failureUpdatingFETCH_HEAD=Failure updating FETCH_HEAD: {0}
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
index 8af7e46..c318443 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/dircache/DirCacheCheckout.java
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.FilterFailedException;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.attributes.FilterCommand;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.attributes.FilterCommandRegistry;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.CheckoutConflictException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.CorruptObjectException;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.errors.IncorrectObjectTypeException;
@@ -86,11 +88,15 @@
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.RawParseUtils;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.SystemReader;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.io.EolStreamTypeUtil;
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 /**
  * This class handles checking out one or two trees merging with the index.
  */
 public class DirCacheCheckout {
+	private static Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DirCacheCheckout.class);
+
 	private static final int MAX_EXCEPTION_TEXT_SIZE = 10 * 1024;
 
 	/**
@@ -1303,45 +1309,19 @@ public static void checkoutEntry(Repository repo, DirCacheEntry entry,
 		} else {
 			nonNullEolStreamType = EolStreamType.DIRECT;
 		}
-		OutputStream channel = EolStreamTypeUtil.wrapOutputStream(
-				new FileOutputStream(tmpFile), nonNullEolStreamType);
-		if (checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand != null) {
-			ProcessBuilder filterProcessBuilder = fs.runInShell(
-					checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand, new String[0]);
-			filterProcessBuilder.directory(repo.getWorkTree());
-			filterProcessBuilder.environment().put(Constants.GIT_DIR_KEY,
-					repo.getDirectory().getAbsolutePath());
-			ExecutionResult result;
-			int rc;
-			try {
-				// TODO: wire correctly with AUTOCRLF
-				result = fs.execute(filterProcessBuilder, ol.openStream());
-				rc = result.getRc();
-				if (rc == 0) {
-					result.getStdout().writeTo(channel,
-							NullProgressMonitor.INSTANCE);
+		try (OutputStream channel = EolStreamTypeUtil.wrapOutputStream(
+				new FileOutputStream(tmpFile), nonNullEolStreamType)) {
+			if (checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand != null) {
+				if (FilterCommandRegistry
+						.isRegistered(checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand)) {
+					runBuiltinFilterCommand(repo, checkoutMetadata, ol,
+							channel);
+				} else {
+					runExternalFilterCommand(repo, entry, checkoutMetadata, ol,
+							fs, channel);
 				}
-			} catch (IOException | InterruptedException e) {
-				throw new IOException(new FilterFailedException(e,
-						checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand,
-						entry.getPathString()));
-
-			} finally {
-				channel.close();
-			}
-			if (rc != 0) {
-				throw new IOException(new FilterFailedException(rc,
-						checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand,
-						entry.getPathString(),
-						result.getStdout().toByteArray(MAX_EXCEPTION_TEXT_SIZE),
-						RawParseUtils.decode(result.getStderr()
-								.toByteArray(MAX_EXCEPTION_TEXT_SIZE))));
-			}
-		} else {
-			try {
+			} else {
 				ol.copyTo(channel);
-			} finally {
-				channel.close();
 			}
 		}
 		// The entry needs to correspond to the on-disk filesize. If the content
@@ -1382,6 +1362,63 @@ public static void checkoutEntry(Repository repo, DirCacheEntry entry,
 		entry.setLastModified(fs.lastModified(f));
 	}
 
+	// Run an external filter command
+	private static void runExternalFilterCommand(Repository repo,
+			DirCacheEntry entry,
+			CheckoutMetadata checkoutMetadata, ObjectLoader ol, FS fs,
+			OutputStream channel) throws IOException {
+		ProcessBuilder filterProcessBuilder = fs.runInShell(
+				checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand, new String[0]);
+		filterProcessBuilder.directory(repo.getWorkTree());
+		filterProcessBuilder.environment().put(Constants.GIT_DIR_KEY,
+				repo.getDirectory().getAbsolutePath());
+		ExecutionResult result;
+		int rc;
+		try {
+			// TODO: wire correctly with AUTOCRLF
+			result = fs.execute(filterProcessBuilder, ol.openStream());
+			rc = result.getRc();
+			if (rc == 0) {
+				result.getStdout().writeTo(channel,
+						NullProgressMonitor.INSTANCE);
+			}
+		} catch (IOException | InterruptedException e) {
+			throw new IOException(new FilterFailedException(e,
+					checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand,
+					entry.getPathString()));
+		}
+		if (rc != 0) {
+			throw new IOException(new FilterFailedException(rc,
+					checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand,
+					entry.getPathString(),
+					result.getStdout().toByteArray(MAX_EXCEPTION_TEXT_SIZE),
+					RawParseUtils.decode(result.getStderr()
+							.toByteArray(MAX_EXCEPTION_TEXT_SIZE))));
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Run a builtin filter command
+	private static void runBuiltinFilterCommand(Repository repo,
+			CheckoutMetadata checkoutMetadata, ObjectLoader ol,
+			OutputStream channel) throws MissingObjectException, IOException {
+		FilterCommand command = null;
+		try {
+			command = FilterCommandRegistry.createFilterCommand(
+					checkoutMetadata.smudgeFilterCommand, repo, ol.openStream(),
+					channel);
+		} catch (IOException e) {
+			LOG.error(JGitText.get().failedToDetermineFilterDefinition, e);
+			// In case an IOException occurred during creating of the command
+			// then proceed as if there would not have been a builtin filter.
+			ol.copyTo(channel);
+		}
+		if (command != null) {
+			while (command.run() != -1) {
+				// loop as long as command.run() tells there is work to do
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	@SuppressWarnings("deprecation")
 	private static void checkValidPath(CanonicalTreeParser t)
 			throws InvalidPathException {
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
index 758f71d..956171b 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/JGitText.java
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ public static JGitText get() {
 	/***/ public String expectedPktLineWithService;
 	/***/ public String expectedReceivedContentType;
 	/***/ public String expectedReportForRefNotReceived;
+	/***/ public String failedToDetermineFilterDefinition;
 	/***/ public String failedUpdatingRefs;
 	/***/ public String failureDueToOneOfTheFollowing;
 	/***/ public String failureUpdatingFETCH_HEAD;