diff --git a/core/language/en-GB/Misc.multids b/core/language/en-GB/Misc.multids
index 0890424a5..a58bf5bd5 100644
--- a/core/language/en-GB/Misc.multids
+++ b/core/language/en-GB/Misc.multids
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 title: $:/language/
 
+BinaryWarning/Prompt: This tiddler contains binary data
 ClassicWarning/Hint: This tiddler is written in TiddlyWiki Classic wiki text format, which is not fully compatible with TiddlyWiki version 5. See http://tiddlywiki.com/static/Upgrading.html for more details. 
 ClassicWarning/Upgrade/Caption: upgrade
 CloseAll/Button: close all
diff --git a/core/modules/widgets/edit-binary.js b/core/modules/widgets/edit-binary.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cf2e2ad2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/modules/widgets/edit-binary.js
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+/*\
+title: $:/core/modules/widgets/edit-binary.js
+type: application/javascript
+module-type: widget
+
+Edit-binary widget; placeholder for editing binary tiddlers
+
+\*/
+(function(){
+
+/*jslint node: true, browser: true */
+/*global $tw: false */
+"use strict";
+
+var BINARY_WARNING_MESSAGE = "$:/core/ui/BinaryWarning";
+
+var Widget = require("$:/core/modules/widgets/widget.js").widget;
+
+var EditBinaryWidget = function(parseTreeNode,options) {
+	this.initialise(parseTreeNode,options);
+};
+
+/*
+Inherit from the base widget class
+*/
+EditBinaryWidget.prototype = new Widget();
+
+/*
+Render this widget into the DOM
+*/
+EditBinaryWidget.prototype.render = function(parent,nextSibling) {
+	var self = this;
+	// Save the parent dom node
+	this.parentDomNode = parent;
+	// Compute our attributes
+	this.computeAttributes();
+	// Execute our logic
+	this.execute();
+	this.renderChildren(parent,nextSibling);
+};
+
+/*
+Compute the internal state of the widget
+*/
+EditBinaryWidget.prototype.execute = function() {
+	// Construct the child widgets
+	this.makeChildWidgets([{
+		type: "transclude",
+		attributes: {
+			tiddler: {type: "string", value: BINARY_WARNING_MESSAGE}
+		}
+	}]);
+};
+
+/*
+Refresh by refreshing our child widget
+*/
+EditBinaryWidget.prototype.refresh = function(changedTiddlers) {
+	return this.refreshChildren(changedTiddlers);
+};
+
+exports["edit-binary"] = EditBinaryWidget;
+
+})();
diff --git a/core/modules/widgets/edit.js b/core/modules/widgets/edit.js
index c5a7a4969..0782d5118 100644
--- a/core/modules/widgets/edit.js
+++ b/core/modules/widgets/edit.js
@@ -56,7 +56,15 @@ EditWidget.prototype.execute = function() {
 	}
 	type = type || "text/vnd.tiddlywiki";
 	// Choose the appropriate edit widget
-	var editorType = this.wiki.getTiddlerText(EDITOR_MAPPING_PREFIX + type) || "text";
+	var editorType = this.wiki.getTiddlerText(EDITOR_MAPPING_PREFIX + type);
+	if(!editorType) {
+		var typeInfo = $tw.config.contentTypeInfo[type];
+		if(typeInfo && typeInfo.encoding === "base64") {
+			editorType = "binary";
+		} else {
+			editorType = "text";
+		}
+	}
 	// Make the child widgets
 	this.makeChildWidgets([{
 		type: "edit-" + editorType,
diff --git a/core/ui/BinaryWarning.tid b/core/ui/BinaryWarning.tid
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a2811ceda
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/ui/BinaryWarning.tid
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+title: $:/core/ui/BinaryWarning
+
+\define lingo-base() $:/language/BinaryWarning/
+<div class="tw-binary-warning">
+
+<<lingo Prompt>>
+
+</div>
diff --git a/themes/tiddlywiki/vanilla/base.tid b/themes/tiddlywiki/vanilla/base.tid
index 8c7389881..bd13ea888 100644
--- a/themes/tiddlywiki/vanilla/base.tid
+++ b/themes/tiddlywiki/vanilla/base.tid
@@ -625,6 +625,15 @@ a.tw-tiddlylink-external:hover {
 	margin: 4px 0 4px 0;
 }
 
+.tw-tiddler-frame .tw-binary-warning {
+	width: 100%;
+	height: 5em;
+	text-align: center;
+	padding: 3em 3em 6em 3em;
+	background: <<colour alert-background>>;
+	border: 1px solid <<colour alert-border>>;
+}
+
 .tw-tiddler-frame input.tw-edit-texteditor {
 	background-color: <<colour tiddler-editor-background>>;
 }