diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 7dd0ad09b..a5181c1bb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ build/
 dist/
 MANIFEST
 README.txt
+CHANGELOG
 youtube-dl.1
 youtube-dl.bash-completion
 youtube-dl
diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
deleted file mode 100644
index 3fa116733..000000000
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14 +0,0 @@
-2013.01.02  Codename: GIULIA
-
-    * Add support for ComedyCentral clips <nto>
-    * Corrected Vimeo description fetching <Nick Daniels>
-    * Added the --no-post-overwrites argument <Barbu Paul - Gheorghe>
-    * --verbose offers more environment info
-    * New info_dict field: uploader_id
-    * New updates system, with signature checking
-    * New IEs: NBA, JustinTV, FunnyOrDie, TweetReel, Steam, Ustream
-    * Fixed IEs: BlipTv
-    * Fixed for Python 3 IEs: Xvideo, Youku, XNXX, Dailymotion, Vimeo, InfoQ
-    * Simplified IEs and test code
-    * Various (Python 3 and other) fixes
-    * Revamped and expanded tests
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..de23fe207
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# 2013.01.02  Codename: GIULIA
+
+* Add support for ComedyCentral clips <nto>
+* Corrected Vimeo description fetching <Nick Daniels>
+* Added the --no-post-overwrites argument <Barbu Paul - Gheorghe>
+* --verbose offers more environment info
+* New info_dict field: uploader_id
+* New updates system, with signature checking
+* New IEs: NBA, JustinTV, FunnyOrDie, TweetReel, Steam, Ustream
+* Fixed IEs: BlipTv
+* Fixed for Python 3 IEs: Xvideo, Youku, XNXX, Dailymotion, Vimeo, InfoQ
+* Simplified IEs and test code
+* Various (Python 3 and other) fixes
+* Revamped and expanded tests
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c6d09932b..d15167e34 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 all: youtube-dl README.md README.txt youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion
 
 clean:
-	rm -rf youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion README.txt MANIFEST build/ dist/ .coverage cover/ youtube-dl.tar.gz
+	rm -rf youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion README.txt CHANGELOG MANIFEST build/ dist/ .coverage cover/ youtube-dl.tar.gz
 
 cleanall: clean
 	rm -f youtube-dl youtube-dl.exe
@@ -54,6 +54,9 @@ README.md: youtube_dl/*.py youtube_dl/*/*.py
 README.txt: README.md
 	pandoc -f markdown -t plain README.md -o README.txt
 
+CHANGELOG: CHANGELOG.md
+	pandoc -f markdown -t plain $< -o $@
+
 youtube-dl.1: README.md
 	pandoc -s -f markdown -t man README.md -o youtube-dl.1
 
@@ -62,7 +65,7 @@ youtube-dl.bash-completion: youtube_dl/*.py youtube_dl/*/*.py devscripts/bash-co
 
 bash-completion: youtube-dl.bash-completion
 
-youtube-dl.tar.gz: youtube-dl README.md README.txt youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion
+youtube-dl.tar.gz: youtube-dl README.md README.txt CHANGELOG.md CHANGELOG youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion
 	@tar -czf youtube-dl.tar.gz --transform "s|^|youtube-dl/|" --owner 0 --group 0 \
 		--exclude '*.DS_Store' \
 		--exclude '*.kate-swp' \
@@ -74,6 +77,6 @@ youtube-dl.tar.gz: youtube-dl README.md README.txt youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-
 		--exclude 'testdata' \
 		-- \
 		bin devscripts test youtube_dl \
-		CHANGELOG LICENSE README.md README.txt \
+		CHANGELOG.md CHANGELOG LICENSE README.md README.txt \
 		Makefile MANIFEST.in youtube-dl.1 youtube-dl.bash-completion setup.py \
 		youtube-dl
diff --git a/devscripts/release.sh b/devscripts/release.sh
index 2766174c1..1b9799f8d 100755
--- a/devscripts/release.sh
+++ b/devscripts/release.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ fi
 if [ -z "$1" ]; then echo "ERROR: specify version number like this: $0 1994.09.06"; exit 1; fi
 version="$1"
 if [ ! -z "`git tag | grep "$version"`" ]; then echo 'ERROR: version already present'; exit 1; fi
-if [ ! -z "`git status --porcelain | grep -v CHANGELOG`" ]; then echo 'ERROR: the working directory is not clean; commit or stash changes'; exit 1; fi
+if [ ! -z "`git status --porcelain | grep -v CHANGELOG.md`" ]; then echo 'ERROR: the working directory is not clean; commit or stash changes'; exit 1; fi
 if [ ! -f "updates_key.pem" ]; then echo 'ERROR: updates_key.pem missing'; exit 1; fi
 
 /bin/echo -e "\n### First of all, testing..."
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ fi
 /bin/echo -e "\n### Changing version in version.py..."
 sed -i "s/__version__ = '.*'/__version__ = '$version'/" youtube_dl/version.py
 
-/bin/echo -e "\n### Committing CHANGELOG README.md and youtube_dl/version.py..."
+/bin/echo -e "\n### Committing CHANGELOG.md README.md and youtube_dl/version.py..."
 make README.md
-git add CHANGELOG README.md youtube_dl/version.py
+git add CHANGELOG.md README.md youtube_dl/version.py
 git commit -m "release $version"
 
 /bin/echo -e "\n### Now tagging, signing and pushing..."