diff --git a/django/conf/global_settings.py b/django/conf/global_settings.py
index 9abc8d6a6c..99e547554b 100644
--- a/django/conf/global_settings.py
+++ b/django/conf/global_settings.py
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@ TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS = (
     'django.core.context_processors.auth',
     'django.core.context_processors.debug',
     'django.core.context_processors.i18n',
+    'django.core.context_processors.media',
 #    'django.core.context_processors.request',
 )
 
diff --git a/django/core/context_processors.py b/django/core/context_processors.py
index f4b288dfc4..3c826b1a7d 100644
--- a/django/core/context_processors.py
+++ b/django/core/context_processors.py
@@ -42,6 +42,13 @@ def i18n(request):
 
     return context_extras
 
+def media(request):
+    """
+    Adds media-related context variables to the context.
+
+    """
+    return {'MEDIA_URL': settings.MEDIA_URL}
+
 def request(request):
     return {'request': request}
 
diff --git a/docs/settings.txt b/docs/settings.txt
index d51f23fd51..7b281cbb23 100644
--- a/docs/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/settings.txt
@@ -776,7 +776,8 @@ Default::
 
     ("django.core.context_processors.auth",
     "django.core.context_processors.debug",
-    "django.core.context_processors.i18n")
+    "django.core.context_processors.i18n",
+    "django.core.context_processors.media")
 
 A tuple of callables that are used to populate the context in ``RequestContext``.
 These callables take a request object as their argument and return a dictionary
diff --git a/docs/templates_python.txt b/docs/templates_python.txt
index 08a287f572..aaf109b659 100644
--- a/docs/templates_python.txt
+++ b/docs/templates_python.txt
@@ -294,7 +294,8 @@ return a dictionary of items to be merged into the context. By default,
 
     ("django.core.context_processors.auth",
     "django.core.context_processors.debug",
-    "django.core.context_processors.i18n")
+    "django.core.context_processors.i18n",
+    "django.core.context_processors.media")
 
 Each processor is applied in order. That means, if one processor adds a
 variable to the context and a second processor adds a variable with the same
@@ -390,6 +391,15 @@ See the `internationalization docs`_ for more.
 .. _LANGUAGE_CODE setting: ../settings/#language-code
 .. _internationalization docs: ../i18n/
 
+django.core.context_processors.media
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+If ``TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS`` contains this processors, every
+``RequestContext`` will contain ``MEDIA_URL``,  providing the 
+value of the `MEDIA_URL setting`_.
+
+.. _MEDIA_URL setting: ../settings/#media-url
+
 django.core.context_processors.request
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~