diff --git a/doc/source/execution.rst b/doc/source/execution.rst
index aa75f43a3..43a859372 100644
--- a/doc/source/execution.rst
+++ b/doc/source/execution.rst
@@ -153,6 +153,14 @@ You can also pass JJB a directory containing multiple job definition files::
 which will write XML files to the output directory for all of the jobs
 defined in the defs directory.
 
+If you run::
+
+  jenkins-jobs test /path/to/defs -o /path/to/output --config-xml
+
+the output directory will contain config.xml files similar to the
+internal storage format of Jenkins.  This might allow you to more
+easily compare the output to an existing Jenkins installation.
+
 .. _updating-jobs:
 
 Updating Jobs
diff --git a/jenkins_jobs/builder.py b/jenkins_jobs/builder.py
index 1c60d25ae..10783fa8d 100644
--- a/jenkins_jobs/builder.py
+++ b/jenkins_jobs/builder.py
@@ -194,7 +194,8 @@ class JenkinsManager(object):
             logger.debug("'{0}' has not changed".format(job.name))
         return changed
 
-    def update_jobs(self, xml_jobs, output=None, n_workers=None):
+    def update_jobs(self, xml_jobs, output=None, n_workers=None,
+                    config_xml=False):
         orig = time.time()
 
         logger.info("Number of jobs generated:  %d", len(xml_jobs))
@@ -230,7 +231,17 @@ class JenkinsManager(object):
                         raise
                     continue
 
-                output_fn = os.path.join(output, job.name)
+                if config_xml:
+                    output_dir = os.path.join(output, job.name)
+                    logger.info("Creating directory %s" % output_dir)
+                    try:
+                        os.makedirs(output_dir)
+                    except OSError:
+                        if not os.path.isdir(output_dir):
+                            raise
+                    output_fn = os.path.join(output_dir, 'config.xml')
+                else:
+                    output_fn = os.path.join(output, job.name)
                 logger.debug("Writing XML to '{0}'".format(output_fn))
                 with io.open(output_fn, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                     f.write(job.output().decode('utf-8'))
@@ -344,7 +355,8 @@ class JenkinsManager(object):
             logger.info("Creating jenkins view {0}".format(view_name))
             self.jenkins.create_view(view_name, xml)
 
-    def update_views(self, xml_views, output=None, n_workers=None):
+    def update_views(self, xml_views, output=None, n_workers=None,
+                     config_xml=False):
         orig = time.time()
 
         logger.info("Number of views generated:  %d", len(xml_views))
@@ -371,7 +383,17 @@ class JenkinsManager(object):
                         raise
                     continue
 
-                output_fn = os.path.join(output, view.name)
+                if config_xml:
+                    output_dir = os.path.join(output, view.name)
+                    logger.info("Creating directory %s" % output_dir)
+                    try:
+                        os.makedirs(output_dir)
+                    except OSError:
+                        if not os.path.isdir(output_dir):
+                            raise
+                    output_fn = os.path.join(output_dir, 'config.xml')
+                else:
+                    output_fn = os.path.join(output, view.name)
                 logger.debug("Writing XML to '{0}'".format(output_fn))
                 with io.open(output_fn, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                     f.write(view.output().decode('utf-8'))
diff --git a/jenkins_jobs/cli/subcommand/test.py b/jenkins_jobs/cli/subcommand/test.py
index b10754fa0..3fe4b5b1e 100644
--- a/jenkins_jobs/cli/subcommand/test.py
+++ b/jenkins_jobs/cli/subcommand/test.py
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ class TestSubCommand(update.UpdateSubCommand):
         self.parse_arg_path(test)
         self.parse_arg_names(test)
 
+        test.add_argument(
+            '--config-xml',
+            action='store_true',
+            dest='config_xml',
+            default=False,
+            help='use alternative output file layout using config.xml files')
         test.add_argument(
             '-p',
             dest='plugins_info_path',
@@ -48,5 +54,7 @@ class TestSubCommand(update.UpdateSubCommand):
         builder, xml_jobs, xml_views = self._generate_xmljobs(
             options, jjb_config)
 
-        builder.update_jobs(xml_jobs, output=options.output_dir, n_workers=1)
-        builder.update_views(xml_views, output=options.output_dir, n_workers=1)
+        builder.update_jobs(xml_jobs, output=options.output_dir, n_workers=1,
+                            config_xml=options.config_xml)
+        builder.update_views(xml_views, output=options.output_dir, n_workers=1,
+                             config_xml=options.config_xml)
diff --git a/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py b/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py
index 57ce3e148..11c7679c9 100644
--- a/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py
+++ b/tests/cmd/subcommands/test_test.py
@@ -74,6 +74,32 @@ class TestTests(CmdTestsBase):
                               'r', encoding='utf-8').read()
         self.assertEqual(console_out.getvalue().decode('utf-8'), xml_content)
 
+    def test_output_dir(self):
+        """
+        Run test mode with output to directory and verify that output files are
+        generated.
+        """
+        tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, tmpdir)
+        args = ['test', os.path.join(self.fixtures_path, 'cmd-001.yaml'),
+                '-o', tmpdir]
+        self.execute_jenkins_jobs_with_args(args)
+        self.expectThat(os.path.join(tmpdir, 'foo-job'),
+                        testtools.matchers.FileExists())
+
+    def test_output_dir_config_xml(self):
+        """
+        Run test mode with output to directory in "config.xml" mode and verify
+        that output files are generated.
+        """
+        tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        self.addCleanup(shutil.rmtree, tmpdir)
+        args = ['test', os.path.join(self.fixtures_path, 'cmd-001.yaml'),
+                '-o', tmpdir, '--config-xml']
+        self.execute_jenkins_jobs_with_args(args)
+        self.expectThat(os.path.join(tmpdir, 'foo-job', 'config.xml'),
+                        testtools.matchers.FileExists())
+
     def test_stream_input_output_no_encoding_exceed_recursion(self):
         """
         Test that we don't have issues processing large number of jobs and