diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 488732a62..856179481 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -43,5 +43,5 @@ porting code *from* to see what you need to do.
 
 We like to keep the source code consistent and easy to read.  Maintaining this
 takes some discipline, but it's been more than worth it.  Take a look at the
-[conventions file](https://github.com/libgit2/libgit2/blob/development/CONVENTIONS).
+[conventions file](https://github.com/libgit2/libgit2/blob/development/CONVENTIONS.md).
 
diff --git a/CONVENTIONS b/CONVENTIONS.md
similarity index 98%
rename from CONVENTIONS
rename to CONVENTIONS.md
index f082d8e6c..06d3e875d 100644
--- a/CONVENTIONS
+++ b/CONVENTIONS.md
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ Type Definitions
 
 Most types should be opaque, e.g.:
 
-----
+```C
 	typedef struct git_odb git_odb;
-----
+```
 
 with allocation functions returning an "instance" created within
 the library, and not within the application.  This allows the type
@@ -28,9 +28,9 @@ Public Exported Function Definitions
 
 All exported functions must be declared as:
 
-----
+```C
 	GIT_EXTERN(result_type) git_modulename_functionname(arg_list);
-----
+```
 
 
 Semi-Private Exported Functions
@@ -52,10 +52,10 @@ few arguments if multiple outputs are supplied).
 int status codes are 0 for GIT_OK and < 0 for an error.
 This permits common POSIX result testing:
 
-----
+```C
 	if (git_odb_open(&odb, path))
 		abort("odb open failed");
-----
+```
 
 Functions returning a pointer may return NULL instead of an int
 if there is only one type of failure (GIT_ENOMEM).
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ All public headers defining types, functions or macros must use
 the following form, where ${filename} is the name of the file,
 after replacing non-identifier characters with '_'.
 
-----
+```C
 	#ifndef INCLUDE_git_${filename}_h__
 	#define INCLUDE_git_${filename}_h__
 
@@ -104,4 +104,4 @@ after replacing non-identifier characters with '_'.
 	/** @} */
 	GIT_END_DECL
 	#endif
-----
+```