diff --git a/lib/mongrel.rb b/lib/mongrel.rb
index 830aba13..228fd9f4 100644
--- a/lib/mongrel.rb
+++ b/lib/mongrel.rb
@@ -9,6 +9,15 @@ require 'mongrel/tcphack'
 require 'yaml'
 require 'time'
 
+begin
+  require 'rubygems' 
+  require 'sendfile'
+  $mongrel_has_sendfile = true
+  STDERR.puts "** You have sendfile installed, will use that to serve files."
+rescue Object
+  $mongrel_has_sendfile = false
+end
+
 # Mongrel module containing all of the classes (include C extensions) for running
 # a Mongrel web server.  It contains a minimalist HTTP server with just enough
 # functionality to service web application requests fast as possible.
@@ -324,6 +333,25 @@ module Mongrel
       end
     end 
 
+    # Appends the contents of +path+ to the response stream.  The file is opened for binary
+    # reading and written in chunks to the socket.  If the 
+    # <a href="http://rubyforge.org/projects/ruby-sendfile">sendfile</a> library is found,
+    # it is used to send the file, often with greater speed and less memory/cpu usage.
+    def send_file(path)
+      File.open(path, "rb") do |f|
+        if @socket.respond_to? :sendfile
+          @socket.sendfile(f)
+        else
+          while chunk = f.read(Const::CHUNK_SIZE)
+            @socket.write(chunk)
+          end
+        end
+	  end
+    rescue EOFError,Errno::ECONNRESET,Errno::EPIPE,Errno::EINVAL,Errno::EBADF
+	  # ignore these since it means the client closed off early
+        STDERR.puts "Client closed socket requesting file #{req}: #$!"
+    end
+
     def write(data)
       @socket.write(data)
     end
diff --git a/lib/mongrel/camping.rb b/lib/mongrel/camping.rb
index 26546c1a..fb4efb8e 100644
--- a/lib/mongrel/camping.rb
+++ b/lib/mongrel/camping.rb
@@ -34,21 +34,30 @@ module Mongrel
       def process(request, response)
         req = StringIO.new(request.body)
         controller = @klass.run(req, request.params)
+        sendfile = nil
         response.start(controller.status) do |head,out|
           controller.headers.each do |k, v|
-            [*v].each do |vi|
-              head[k] = vi
+            if k =~ /^X-SENDFILE$/i
+              sendfile = v
+            else
+              [*v].each do |vi|
+                head[k] = vi
+              end
             end
           end
-          if controller.body.respond_to? :read
+          response.send_header
+
+          if sendfile
+            response.send_file(sendfile)
+          elsif controller.body.respond_to? :read
             while chunk = controller.body.read(16384)
-              out << chunk
+              @response.write(chunk)
             end
             if controller.body.respond_to? :close
               controller.body.close
             end
           else
-            out << controller.body
+            @response.write(controller.body)
           end
         end
       end
diff --git a/lib/mongrel/handlers.rb b/lib/mongrel/handlers.rb
index 6496d90d..f9ad95f2 100644
--- a/lib/mongrel/handlers.rb
+++ b/lib/mongrel/handlers.rb
@@ -1,12 +1,3 @@
-require 'rubygems'
-begin
-  require 'sendfile'
-  $mongrel_has_sendfile = true
-  STDERR.puts "** You have sendfile installed, will use that to serve files."
-rescue Object
-  $mongrel_has_sendfile = false
-end
-
 module Mongrel
 
   # You implement your application handler with this.  It's very light giving
@@ -188,22 +179,10 @@ module Mongrel
       response.send_header
 
       if not header_only
-	begin
-	  if $mongrel_has_sendfile
-	    File.open(req, "rb") { |f| response.socket.sendfile(f) }
-	  else
-	    File.open(req, "rb") { |f| response.socket.write(f.read) }
-	  end
-        rescue EOFError,Errno::ECONNRESET,Errno::EPIPE,Errno::EINVAL,Errno::EBADF
-	  # ignore these since it means the client closed off early
-          STDERR.puts "Client closed socket requesting file #{req}: #$!"
-	end
-      else
-        response.send_body # should send nothing
+        response.send_file(req)
       end
     end
 
-
     # Process the request to either serve a file or a directory listing
     # if allowed (based on the listing_allowed paramter to the constructor).
     def process(request, response)
diff --git a/test/test_response.rb b/test/test_response.rb
index 36a29fb9..4659f32b 100644
--- a/test/test_response.rb
+++ b/test/test_response.rb
@@ -44,6 +44,25 @@ class ResponseTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert io.length > 0, "output didn't have data"
   end
 
+  def test_response_file
+    contents = "PLAIN TEXT\r\nCONTENTS\r\n"
+    require 'tempfile'
+    tmpf = Tempfile.new("test_response_file")
+    tmpf.write(contents)
+    tmpf.rewind
 
+    io = StringIO.new
+    resp = HttpResponse.new(io)
+    resp.start(200) do |head,out|
+      head['Content-Type'] = 'text/plain'
+      resp.send_header
+      resp.send_file(tmpf.path)
+    end
+    io.rewind
+    tmpf.close
+
+    assert io.length > 0, "output didn't have data"
+    assert io.read =~ /#{contents}\Z/, "output doesn't end with file payload"
+  end
 end