diff --git a/backup/converter/moodle1/lib.php b/backup/converter/moodle1/lib.php
index fdc2529b121..afd3e35ce6a 100644
--- a/backup/converter/moodle1/lib.php
+++ b/backup/converter/moodle1/lib.php
@@ -536,6 +536,54 @@ class moodle1_converter extends base_converter {
         return new moodle1_file_manager($this, $contextid, $component, $filearea, $itemid, $userid);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Detects all links to file.php encoded via $@FILEPHP@$ and returns the files to migrate
+     *
+     * @param string $text
+     * @return array
+     */
+    public static function find_referenced_files($text) {
+
+        $files = array();
+
+        if (empty($text) or is_numeric($text)) {
+            return $files;
+        }
+
+        $matches = array();
+        $pattern = '|(["\'])(\$@FILEPHP@\$.+?)\1|';
+        $result = preg_match_all($pattern, $text, $matches);
+        if ($result === false) {
+            throw new moodle1_convert_exception('error_while_searching_for_referenced_files');
+        }
+        if ($result == 0) {
+            return $files;
+        }
+        foreach ($matches[2] as $match) {
+            $files[] = str_replace(array('$@FILEPHP@$', '$@SLASH@$', '$@FORCEDOWNLOAD@$'), array('', '/', ''), $match);
+        }
+
+        return array_unique($files);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Given the list of migrated files, rewrites references to them from $@FILEPHP@$ form to the @@PLUGINFILE@@ one
+     *
+     * @param string $text
+     * @param array $files
+     * @return string
+     */
+    public static function rewrite_filephp_usage($text, array $files) {
+
+        foreach ($files as $file) {
+            $fileref = '$@FILEPHP@$'.str_replace('/', '$@SLASH@$', $file);
+            $text    = str_replace($fileref.'$@FORCEDOWNLOAD@$', '@@PLUGINFILE@@'.$file.'?forcedownload=1', $text);
+            $text    = str_replace($fileref, '@@PLUGINFILE@@'.$file, $text);
+        }
+
+        return $text;
+    }
+
     /**
      * @see parent::description()
      */
diff --git a/backup/converter/moodle1/simpletest/testlib.php b/backup/converter/moodle1/simpletest/testlib.php
index 434389134cc..7b00ea2f67c 100644
--- a/backup/converter/moodle1/simpletest/testlib.php
+++ b/backup/converter/moodle1/simpletest/testlib.php
@@ -381,6 +381,24 @@ class moodle1_converter_test extends UnitTestCase {
             ), true);
     }
 
+    public function test_referenced_course_files() {
+
+        $text = 'This is a text containing links to file.php
+as it is parsed from the backup file. <br /><br /><img border="0" width="110" vspace="0" hspace="0" height="92" title="News" alt="News" src="$@FILEPHP@$$@SLASH@$pics$@SLASH@$news.gif" /><a href="$@FILEPHP@$$@SLASH@$pics$@SLASH@$news.gif$@FORCEDOWNLOAD@$">download image</a><br />
+    <br /><a href=\'$@FILEPHP@$$@SLASH@$MANUAL.DOC$@FORCEDOWNLOAD@$\'>download manual</a><br />';
+
+        $files = moodle1_converter::find_referenced_files($text);
+        $this->assertIsA($files, 'array');
+        $this->assertEqual(2, count($files));
+        $this->assertTrue(in_array('/pics/news.gif', $files));
+        $this->assertTrue(in_array('/MANUAL.DOC', $files));
+
+        $text = moodle1_converter::rewrite_filephp_usage($text, array('/pics/news.gif', '/another/file/notused.txt'), $files);
+        $this->assertEqual($text, 'This is a text containing links to file.php
+as it is parsed from the backup file. <br /><br /><img border="0" width="110" vspace="0" hspace="0" height="92" title="News" alt="News" src="@@PLUGINFILE@@/pics/news.gif" /><a href="@@PLUGINFILE@@/pics/news.gif?forcedownload=1">download image</a><br />
+    <br /><a href=\'$@FILEPHP@$$@SLASH@$MANUAL.DOC$@FORCEDOWNLOAD@$\'>download manual</a><br />');
+    }
+
     public function test_question_bank_conversion() {
         global $CFG;