diff --git a/lib/Cake/Routing/Route/Route.php b/lib/Cake/Routing/Route/Route.php
index d959043acfd..6136ecfb921 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Routing/Route/Route.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Routing/Route/Route.php
@@ -88,11 +88,22 @@ class Route {
 		'server' => 'server_name'
 	);
 
+/**
+ * List of connected extensions for this route.
+ *
+ * @var array
+ */
+	protected $_extensions = array();
+
 /**
  * Constructor for a Route
  *
- * Using $options['_name'] a specific name can be given to a route.
- * Otherwise a route name will be generated.
+ * ### Options
+ *
+ * - `_name` - By using $options['_name'] a specific name can be
+ *   given to a route. Otherwise a route name will be generated.
+ * - `_ext` - Defines the extensions used for this route.
+ * - `pass` - Copies the listed parameters into params['pass'].
  *
  * @param string $template Template string with parameter placeholders
  * @param array $defaults Array of defaults for the route.
@@ -105,6 +116,9 @@ public function __construct($template, $defaults = array(), $options = array())
 		if (isset($this->options['_name'])) {
 			$this->_name = $this->options['_name'];
 		}
+		if (isset($this->options['_ext'])) {
+			$this->_extensions = $this->options['_ext'];
+		}
 	}
 
 /**
@@ -225,6 +239,8 @@ public function parse($url) {
 		if (!$this->compiled()) {
 			$this->compile();
 		}
+		list($url, $ext) = $this->_parseExtension($url);
+
 		if (!preg_match($this->_compiledRoute, $url, $route)) {
 			return false;
 		}
@@ -287,6 +303,10 @@ public function parse($url) {
 			unset($route['_trailing_']);
 		}
 
+		if ($ext && empty($route['_ext'])) {
+			$route['_ext'] = $ext;
+		}
+
 		// restructure 'pass' key route params
 		if (isset($this->options['pass'])) {
 			$j = count($this->options['pass']);
@@ -299,6 +319,32 @@ public function parse($url) {
 		return $route;
 	}
 
+/**
+ * Removes the extension if the $url contains a known extension.
+ * If there are no known extensions all extensions are supported.
+ *
+ * @param string $url The url to parse.
+ * @return array containing url, extension
+ */
+	protected function _parseExtension($url) {
+		if (empty($this->_extensions)) {
+			return array($url, null);
+		}
+		preg_match('/\.([0-9a-z]*)$/', $url, $match);
+		if (empty($match[1])) {
+			return array($url, null);
+		}
+		$ext = strtolower($match[1]);
+		$len = strlen($match[1]);
+		foreach ($this->_extensions as $name) {
+			if (strtolower($name) === $ext) {
+				$url = substr($url, 0, ($len + 1) * -1);
+				return array($url, $ext);
+			}
+		}
+		return array($url, null);
+	}
+
 /**
  * Parse passed parameters into a list of passed args.
  *
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Routing/Router.php b/lib/Cake/Routing/Router.php
index 7a544f4f01f..4923c313e9c 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Routing/Router.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Routing/Router.php
@@ -218,20 +218,23 @@ public static function resourceMap($resourceMap = null) {
 /**
  * Connects a new Route in the router.
  *
- * Routes are a way of connecting request urls to objects in your application.  At their core routes
- * are a set or regular expressions that are used to match requests to destinations.
+ * Routes are a way of connecting request urls to objects in your application.
+ * At their core routes are a set or regular expressions that are used to
+ * match requests to destinations.
  *
  * Examples:
  *
  * `Router::connect('/:controller/:action/*');`
  *
- * The first parameter will be used as a controller name while the second is used as the action name.
- * the '/*' syntax makes this route greedy in that it will match requests like `/posts/index` as well as requests
+ * The first parameter will be used as a controller name while the second is
+ * used as the action name. The '/*' syntax makes this route greedy in that
+ * it will match requests like `/posts/index` as well as requests
  * like `/posts/edit/1/foo/bar`.
  *
  * `Router::connect('/home-page', array('controller' => 'pages', 'action' => 'display', 'home'));`
  *
- * The above shows the use of route parameter defaults. And providing routing parameters for a static route.
+ * The above shows the use of route parameter defaults. And providing routing
+ * parameters for a static route.
  *
  * {{{
  * Router::connect(
@@ -241,17 +244,22 @@ public static function resourceMap($resourceMap = null) {
  * );
  * }}}
  *
- * Shows connecting a route with custom route parameters as well as providing patterns for those parameters.
- * Patterns for routing parameters do not need capturing groups, as one will be added for each route params.
+ * Shows connecting a route with custom route parameters as well as
+ * providing patterns for those parameters. Patterns for routing parameters
+ * do not need capturing groups, as one will be added for each route params.
  *
- * $options offers several 'special' keys that have special meaning in the $options array.
+ * $options offers several 'special' keys that have special meaning 
+ * in the $options array.
  *
- * - `pass` is used to define which of the routed parameters should be shifted into the pass array.  Adding a
- *   parameter to pass will remove it from the regular route array. Ex. `'pass' => array('slug')`
- * - `routeClass` is used to extend and change how individual routes parse requests and handle reverse routing,
- *   via a custom routing class. Ex. `'routeClass' => 'SlugRoute'`
- * - `_name` Used to define a specific name for routes.  This can be used to optimize reverse routing lookups.
- *   If undefined a name will be generated for each connected route.
+ * - `pass` is used to define which of the routed parameters should be shifted
+ *   into the pass array.  Adding a parameter to pass will remove it from the
+ *   regular route array. Ex. `'pass' => array('slug')`.
+ * - `routeClass` is used to extend and change how individual routes parse requests
+ *   and handle reverse routing, via a custom routing class.
+ *   Ex. `'routeClass' => 'SlugRoute'`
+ * - `_name` Used to define a specific name for routes.  This can be used to optimize
+ *   reverse routing lookups. If undefined a name will be generated for each
+ *   connected route.
  *
  * @param string $route A string describing the template of the route
  * @param array $defaults An array describing the default route parameters. These parameters will be used by default
@@ -283,6 +291,9 @@ public static function connect($route, $defaults = array(), $options = array())
 		if (empty($options['action'])) {
 			$defaults += array('action' => 'index');
 		}
+		if (empty($options['_ext'])) {
+			$options['_ext'] = self::$_validExtensions;
+		}
 		$routeClass = static::$_routeClass;
 		if (isset($options['routeClass'])) {
 			$routeClass = static::_validateRouteClass($options['routeClass']);
@@ -412,21 +423,23 @@ public static function parse($url) {
 			$url = substr($url, 0, strpos($url, '?'));
 		}
 
+<<<<<<< HEAD
 		extract(static::_parseExtension($url));
 
 		$out = static::$_routes->parse($url);
+=======
+		$out = self::$_routes->parse($url);
+>>>>>>> Move extension parsing.
 
 		if (isset($out['prefix'])) {
 			$out['action'] = $out['prefix'] . '_' . $out['action'];
 		}
 
-		if (!empty($ext) && !isset($out['ext'])) {
-			$out['ext'] = $ext;
-		}
 		return $out;
 	}
 
 /**
+<<<<<<< HEAD
  * Parses a file extension out of a URL, if Router::parseExtensions() is enabled.
  *
  * @param string $url
@@ -456,6 +469,8 @@ protected static function _parseExtension($url) {
 	}
 
 /**
+=======
+>>>>>>> Move extension parsing.
  * Set the route collection object Router should use.
  *
  * @param Cake\Routing\RouteCollection $routes
@@ -890,7 +905,7 @@ public static function normalize($url = '/') {
  * Instructs the router to parse out file extensions from the URL. For example,
  * http://example.com/posts.rss would yield an file extension of "rss".
  * The file extension itself is made available in the controller as
- * `$this->params['ext']`, and is used by the RequestHandler component to
+ * `$this->params['_ext']`, and is used by the RequestHandler component to
  * automatically switch to alternate layouts and templates, and load helpers
  * corresponding to the given content, i.e. RssHelper. Switching layouts and helpers
  * requires that the chosen extension has a defined mime type in `Cake\Network\Response`
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/Route/RouteTest.php b/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/Route/RouteTest.php
index 9e251a42fe5..55dcb317434 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/Route/RouteTest.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/Route/RouteTest.php
@@ -92,6 +92,31 @@ public function testBasicRouteCompiling() {
 		$this->assertRegExp($result, '/test_plugin/posts/edit/5/name:value/nick:name');
 	}
 
+/**
+ * Test parsing routes with extensions.
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	public function testRouteParsingWithExtensions() {
+		$route = new Route(
+			'/:controller/:action/*',
+			array(),
+			array('_ext' => array('json', 'xml'))
+		);
+
+		$result = $route->parse('/posts/index');
+		$this->assertFalse(isset($result['_ext']));
+
+		$result = $route->parse('/posts/index.pdf');
+		$this->assertFalse(isset($result['_ext']));
+
+		$result = $route->parse('/posts/index.json');
+		$this->assertEquals('json', $result['_ext']);
+
+		$result = $route->parse('/posts/index.xml');
+		$this->assertEquals('xml', $result['_ext']);
+	}
+
 /**
  * test that route parameters that overlap don't cause errors.
  *
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/RouterTest.php b/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/RouterTest.php
index 214aa5610c1..c956cdee0eb 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/RouterTest.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Test/TestCase/Routing/RouterTest.php
@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ public function testUrlGenerationWithAdminPrefix() {
 			'plugin' => null,
 			'prefix' => 'admin',
 			'admin' => true,
-			'ext' => 'html'
+			'_ext' => 'html'
 		));
 		$request->base = '';
 		$request->here = '/admin/registrations/index';
@@ -747,15 +747,15 @@ public function testUrlGenerationWithExtensions() {
 		Router::connect('/:controller/:action');
 		Router::parse('/');
 
-		$result = Router::url(array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'articles', 'action' => 'add', 'id' => null, 'ext' => 'json'));
+		$result = Router::url(array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'articles', 'action' => 'add', 'id' => null, '_ext' => 'json'));
 		$expected = '/articles/add.json';
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
-		$result = Router::url(array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'articles', 'action' => 'add', 'ext' => 'json'));
+		$result = Router::url(array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'articles', 'action' => 'add', '_ext' => 'json'));
 		$expected = '/articles/add.json';
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
-		$result = Router::url(array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'articles', 'action' => 'index', 'id' => null, 'ext' => 'json'));
+		$result = Router::url(array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'articles', 'action' => 'index', 'id' => null, '_ext' => 'json'));
 		$expected = '/articles.json';
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
@@ -1212,48 +1212,85 @@ public function testSetExtensions() {
  * @return void
  */
 	public function testExtensionParsing() {
+		/*
 		Router::parseExtensions();
 		require CAKE . 'Config' . DS . 'routes.php';
 
 		$result = Router::parse('/posts.rss');
-		$expected = array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'posts', 'action' => 'index', 'ext' => 'rss', 'pass' => array());
+		$expected = array(
+			'plugin' => null,
+			'controller' => 'posts',
+			'action' => 'index',
+			'_ext' => 'rss',
+			'pass' => array()
+		);
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
 		$result = Router::parse('/posts/view/1.rss');
-		$expected = array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'posts', 'action' => 'view', 'pass' => array('1'), 'ext' => 'rss');
+		$expected = array(
+			'plugin' => null,
+			'controller' => 'posts',
+			'action' => 'view',
+			'pass' => array('1'),
+			'_ext' => 'rss'
+		);
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
 		$result = Router::parse('/posts/view/1.rss?query=test');
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
 		$result = Router::parse('/posts/view/1.atom');
-		$expected['ext'] = 'atom';
+		$expected['_ext'] = 'atom';
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
-
+		 */
 		Router::reload();
+		Router::parseExtensions('rss', 'xml');
+
 		require CAKE . 'Config' . DS . 'routes.php';
 
-		Router::parseExtensions('rss', 'xml');
 
 		$result = Router::parse('/posts.xml');
-		$expected = array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'posts', 'action' => 'index', 'ext' => 'xml', 'pass' => array());
+		$expected = array(
+			'plugin' => null,
+			'controller' => 'posts',
+			'action' => 'index',
+			'_ext' => 'xml',
+			'pass' => array()
+		);
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
 		$result = Router::parse('/posts.atom?hello=goodbye');
-		$expected = array('plugin' => null, 'controller' => 'posts.atom', 'action' => 'index', 'pass' => array());
+		$expected = array(
+			'plugin' => null,
+			'controller' => 'posts.atom',
+			'action' => 'index',
+			'pass' => array()
+		);
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
 		Router::reload();
-		Router::connect('/controller/action', array('controller' => 'controller', 'action' => 'action', 'ext' => 'rss'));
+		Router::connect('/controller/action', array('controller' => 'controller', 'action' => 'action', '_ext' => 'rss'));
 		$result = Router::parse('/controller/action');
-		$expected = array('controller' => 'controller', 'action' => 'action', 'plugin' => null, 'ext' => 'rss', 'pass' => array());
+		$expected = array(
+			'controller' => 'controller',
+			'action' => 'action',
+			'plugin' => null,
+			'_ext' => 'rss',
+			'pass' => array()
+		);
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 
 		Router::reload();
 		Router::parseExtensions('rss');
-		Router::connect('/controller/action', array('controller' => 'controller', 'action' => 'action', 'ext' => 'rss'));
+		Router::connect('/controller/action', array('controller' => 'controller', 'action' => 'action', '_ext' => 'rss'));
 		$result = Router::parse('/controller/action');
-		$expected = array('controller' => 'controller', 'action' => 'action', 'plugin' => null, 'ext' => 'rss', 'pass' => array());
+		$expected = array(
+			'controller' => 'controller',
+			'action' => 'action',
+			'plugin' => null,
+			'_ext' => 'rss',
+			'pass' => array()
+		);
 		$this->assertEquals($expected, $result);
 	}