diff --git a/javascript/README b/javascript/README
deleted file mode 100644
index 6327071a4..000000000
--- a/javascript/README
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,101 +0,0 @@
-Info:
-=====
-Google's JavaScript library for parsing, formatting, and validating
-international phone numbers.
-
-
-How to setup:
-=============
-1.  Checkout closure-library, closure-compiler, closure-linter and python-gflags
-    next to libphonenumber:
-
-e.g.
-git clone https://github.com/googlei18n/libphonenumber/
-git clone https://github.com/google/closure-library/
-git clone https://github.com/google/closure-compiler.git
-svn checkout http://closure-linter.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ ~/src/closure-linter
-svn checkout http://python-gflags.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ ~/src/python-gflags
-
-(If you don't checkout the dependencies next to libphonenumber:
-a. change the path of the <script src=""> in the html pages to point to wherever
-   base.js is located
-b. update javascript/build.xml with the correct paths)
-
-2.  Run the unit tests to make sure everything is working. Open the following
-pages with your web browser:
-  javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/phonenumberutil_test.html
-  javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/asyoutypeformatter_test.html
-
-3.  Run the demo: javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/demo.html
-
-
-How to compile:
-===============
-1.  Build Closure's compiler.jar:
-
-e.g.
-ant -f ~/src/closure-compiler/build.xml
-
-2.  Compile the demo.js and all its dependencies to one file: demo-compiled.js:
-
-ant -f javascript/build.xml compile-demo
-
-3.  Run the compiled demo: javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/demo-compiled.html
-
-
-How to use:
-===========
-To use and compile the library in your own project, use the
-javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/demo.js as an example. You will need to
-goog.exportSymbol all the methods you use in your html so that the compiler
-won't rename them. You can then invoke the compiler similarly to how the
-compile-demo ant target in javascript/build.xml invokes it.
-
-
-How to update:
-==============
-The JavaScript library is ported from the Java implementation (revision 536).
-When the Java project gets updated follow these steps to update the JavaScript
-project:
-
-1.  If the protocol buffers (phonemetadata.proto and phonenumber.proto)
-    have changed:
-  a.  Manually update the .pb.js files with the changes of the .proto files.
-  b.  Manually update the toJsArray() Java methods in
-      tools/java/java-build/src/com/google/i18n/phonenumbers/BuildMetadataJsonFromXml.java
-  c.  Build tools/java/java-build/target/java-build-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar
-      by running:
-      mvn -f tools/java/java-build/pom.xml package
-
-2.  If the phone number metadata in the XML format has changed
-    (resources/PhoneNumberMetadata.xml)
-    run the following commands to regenerate metadata.js and
-    metadatafortesting.js:
-
-    ant -f java/build.xml build-js-metadata
-
-3.  Manually port any changes of the Java code to the JavaScript code:
-      PhoneNumberUtil.java => phonenumberutil.js
-      AsYouTypeFormatter.java => asyoutypeformatter.js
-      PhoneNumberUtilTest.java => phonenumberutil_test.js
-      AsYouTypeFormatterTest.java => asyoutypeformatter_test.js
-
-4.  Run the Closure Compiler to get your changes syntax and type checked.
-    This will also generate demo-compiled.js used by demo-compiler.html
-    (TODO: Use target "compile" rather than "compile-demo" once
-     visibility issues for getExtractedNationalPrefix_ have been resolved):
-
-    ant -f javascript/build.xml compile-demo
-
-5.  Run the Closure Linter to lint the JavaScript files:
-
-    ant -f javascript/build.xml lint
-
-
-TODO:
-=====
-Port functionality to extract phone-numbers from text (findNumbers).
-Port offline phone number geocoder.
-Enable PhoneNumberUtil to handle all digits, rather than a subset
-(JavaScript has no equivalent to the Java Character.digit).
-Port ShortNumberInfo.
diff --git a/javascript/README.md b/javascript/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5f144164e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/javascript/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+Info:
+=====
+Google's JavaScript library for parsing, formatting, and validating
+international phone numbers.
+
+
+How to setup:
+=============
+1.  Checkout closure-library, closure-compiler, closure-linter and python-gflags next to libphonenumber:
+
+* `git clone https://github.com/googlei18n/libphonenumber/`
+
+* `git clone https://github.com/google/closure-library/`
+
+* `git clone https://github.com/google/closure-compiler.git`
+
+* `svn checkout http://closure-linter.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ ~/src/closure-linter`
+
+* `svn checkout http://python-gflags.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ ~/src/python-gflags`
+
+If you don't checkout the dependencies next to libphonenumber:
+
+1. Change the path of the `<script src="">` in the html pages to point to wherever base.js is located
+2. Update `javascript/build.xml` with the correct paths
+
+3. Run the unit tests to make sure everything is working. Open the following pages with your web browser:
+  `javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/phonenumberutil_test.html`
+  `javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/asyoutypeformatter_test.html`
+
+4. Run the demo: `javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/demo.html`
+
+
+How to compile:
+===============
+1. Build Closure's compiler.jar:
+  `ant -f ~/src/closure-compiler/build.xml`
+
+2. Compile the demo.js and all its dependencies to one file: `demo-compiled.js`:
+  `ant -f javascript/build.xml compile-demo`
+
+3. Run the compiled demo: `javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/demo-compiled.html`
+
+
+How to use:
+===========
+To use and compile the library in your own project, use the `javascript/i18n/phonenumbers/demo.js` as an example. You will need to goog.exportSymbol all the methods you use in your html so that the compiler won't rename them. You can then invoke the compiler similarly to how the compile-demo ant target in `javascript/build.xml` invokes it.
+
+
+How to update:
+==============
+The JavaScript library is ported from the Java implementation (revision 536).
+When the Java project gets updated follow these steps to update the JavaScript
+project:
+
+1. If the protocol buffers (phonemetadata.proto and phonenumber.proto) have changed:
+  * Manually update the .pb.js files with the changes of the .proto files.
+  * Manually update the toJsArray() Java methods in tools/java/java-build/src/com/google/i18n/phonenumbers/BuildMetadataJsonFromXml.java
+  * Build `tools/java/java-build/target/java-build-1.0-SNAPSHOT-jar-with-dependencies.jar` by running: `mvn -f tools/java/java-build/pom.xml package`
+
+2. If the phone number metadata in the XML format has changed `resources/PhoneNumberMetadata.xml` run the following commands to regenerate `metadata.js` and `metadatafortesting.js`:
+
+  `ant -f java/build.xml build-js-metadata`
+
+3. Manually port any changes of the Java code to the JavaScript code:
+  * PhoneNumberUtil.java => phonenumberutil.js
+  * AsYouTypeFormatter.java => asyoutypeformatter.js
+  * PhoneNumberUtilTest.java => phonenumberutil_test.js
+  * AsYouTypeFormatterTest.java => asyoutypeformatter_test.js
+
+4. Run the Closure Compiler to get your changes syntax and type checked. This will also generate `demo-compiled.js` used by `demo-compiler.html`
+
+  (TODO: Use target "compile" rather than "compile-demo" once visibility issues for getExtractedNationalPrefix_ have been resolved):
+
+  `ant -f javascript/build.xml compile-demo`
+
+5. Run the Closure Linter to lint the JavaScript files:
+
+  `ant -f javascript/build.xml lint`
+
+
+TODO:
+=====
+1. Port functionality to extract phone-numbers from text (findNumbers).
+2. Port offline phone number geocoder.
+3. Enable PhoneNumberUtil to handle all digits, rather than a subset (JavaScript has no equivalent to the Java Character.digit).
+4. Port ShortNumberInfo.