diff --git a/include/mmp.h b/include/mmp.h
index 55f289427..403f90f5e 100644
--- a/include/mmp.h
+++ b/include/mmp.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
  * mmp.h - class for reading and writing multimedia-project-files
  *
  * Copyright (c) 2004-2009 Tobias Doerffel <tobydox/at/users.sourceforge.net>
+ * Copyright (c) 2012-2013 Paul Giblock <p/at/pgiblock.net>
  * 
  * This file is part of Linux MultiMedia Studio - http://lmms.sourceforge.net
  *
@@ -27,6 +28,7 @@
 #define _MMP_H
 
 #include <QtXml/QDomDocument>
+#include <QTextStream>
 
 #include "export.h"
 #include "lmms_basics.h"
@@ -59,6 +61,7 @@ public:
 
 	QString nameWithExtension( const QString & _fn ) const;
 
+	void write( QTextStream & _strm );
 	bool writeFile( const QString & _fn );
 
 	inline QDomElement & content()
diff --git a/src/core/main.cpp b/src/core/main.cpp
index c94898b15..55490628d 100644
--- a/src/core/main.cpp
+++ b/src/core/main.cpp
@@ -168,7 +168,8 @@ int main( int argc, char * * argv )
 	"-x, --oversampling <value>	specify oversampling\n"
 	"				possible values: 1, 2, 4, 8\n"
 	"				default: 2\n"
-	"-u, --upgrade <in> <out>	upgrade file <in> and save as <out>\n"
+	"-u, --upgrade <in> [out]	upgrade file <in> and save as <out>\n"
+	"       standard out is used if no output file is specifed\n"
 	"-d, --dump <in>			dump XML of compressed file <in>\n"
 	"-v, --version			show version information and exit.\n"
 	"-h, --help			show this usage information and exit.\n\n",
@@ -179,9 +180,15 @@ int main( int argc, char * * argv )
 						QString( argv[i] ) == "-u" ) )
 		{
 			multimediaProject mmp( QString( argv[i + 1] ) );
-			if (argc > i+1)
+			if (argc > i+2)
 			{
-				mmp.writeFile(argv[i + 2]);
+				mmp.writeFile( argv[i + 2] );
+			}
+			else
+			{
+				QTextStream ts( stdout );
+				mmp.write( ts );
+				fflush( stdout );
 			}
 			return( EXIT_SUCCESS );
 		}
diff --git a/src/core/mmp.cpp b/src/core/mmp.cpp
index cd71651f7..adc438fdf 100644
--- a/src/core/mmp.cpp
+++ b/src/core/mmp.cpp
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ QString multimediaProject::nameWithExtension( const QString & _fn ) const
 
 
 
-bool multimediaProject::writeFile( const QString & _fn )
+void multimediaProject::write( QTextStream & _strm )
 {
 	if( type() == SongProject || type() == SongProjectTemplate
 					|| type() == InstrumentTrackSettings )
@@ -173,7 +173,14 @@ bool multimediaProject::writeFile( const QString & _fn )
 		cleanMetaNodes( documentElement() );
 	}
 
+	save(_strm, 2);
+}
 
+
+
+
+bool multimediaProject::writeFile( const QString & _fn )
+{
 	QString fn = nameWithExtension( _fn );
 	QFile outfile( fn );
 	if( !outfile.open( QIODevice::WriteOnly | QIODevice::Truncate ) )
@@ -191,14 +198,18 @@ bool multimediaProject::writeFile( const QString & _fn )
 						).arg( fn ) );
 		return false;
 	}
-	QString xml = toString( 2 );
+
 	if( fn.section( '.', -1 ) == "mmpz" )
 	{
+		QString xml;
+		QTextStream ts( &xml );
+		write( ts );
 		outfile.write( qCompress( xml.toUtf8() ) );
 	}
 	else
 	{
-		QTextStream( &outfile ) << xml;
+		QTextStream ts( &outfile );
+		write( ts );
 	}
 	outfile.close();