diff --git a/autoload/ale/engine.vim b/autoload/ale/engine.vim
index fc6a730..ed7b933 100644
--- a/autoload/ale/engine.vim
+++ b/autoload/ale/engine.vim
@@ -286,11 +286,17 @@ function! ale#engine#EscapeCommandPart(command_part) abort
 endfunction
 
 function! s:TemporaryFilename(buffer) abort
+    let l:filename = fnamemodify(bufname(a:buffer), ':t')
+
+    if empty(l:filename)
+        " If the buffer's filename is empty, create a dummy filename.
+        let l:ft = getbufvar(a:buffer, '&filetype')
+        let l:filename = 'file' . ale#filetypes#GuessExtension(l:ft)
+    endif
+
     " Create a temporary filename, <temp_dir>/<original_basename>
     " The file itself will not be created by this function.
-    return tempname()
-    \   . (has('win32') ? '\' : '/')
-    \   . fnamemodify(bufname(a:buffer), ':t')
+    return tempname() . (has('win32') ? '\' : '/') . l:filename
 endfunction
 
 " Given a command string, replace every...
diff --git a/autoload/ale/filetypes.vim b/autoload/ale/filetypes.vim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6174aa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/autoload/ale/filetypes.vim
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+" Author: w0rp <devw0rp@gmail.com>
+" Description: This file handles guessing file extensions for filetypes, etc.
+
+function! ale#filetypes#LoadExtensionMap() abort
+    " Output includes:
+    "    '*.erl setf erlang'
+    redir => l:output
+       silent exec 'autocmd'
+    redir end
+
+    let l:map = {}
+
+    for l:line in split(l:output, "\n")
+        " Parse filetypes, like so:
+        "
+        "    *.erl setf erlang
+        " *.md      set filetype=markdown
+        " *.snippet setlocal filetype=snippets
+        let l:match = matchlist(l:line, '\v^ *\*(\.[^ ]+).*set(f *| *filetype=|local *filetype=)([^ ]+)')
+
+        if !empty(l:match)
+            let l:map[substitute(l:match[3], '^=', '', '')] = l:match[1]
+        endif
+    endfor
+
+    return l:map
+endfunction
+
+let s:cached_map = {}
+
+function! s:GetCachedExtensionMap() abort
+    if empty(s:cached_map)
+        let s:cached_map = ale#filetypes#LoadExtensionMap()
+    endif
+
+    return s:cached_map
+endfunction
+
+function! ale#filetypes#GuessExtension(filetype) abort
+    let l:map = s:GetCachedExtensionMap()
+    let l:ext = get(l:map, a:filetype, '')
+
+    " If we have an exact match, like something for javascript.jsx, use that.
+    if !empty(l:ext)
+        return l:ext
+    endif
+
+    " If we don't have an exact match, use the first filetype in the compound
+    " filetype.
+    for l:part in split(a:filetype, '\.')
+        let l:ext = get(l:map, l:part, '')
+
+        if !empty(l:ext)
+            return l:ext
+        endif
+    endfor
+
+    " Return an empty string if we don't find anything.
+    return ''
+endfunction
diff --git a/test/test_filetype_mapping.vader b/test/test_filetype_mapping.vader
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2d72491
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_filetype_mapping.vader
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+Before:
+    augroup TestFiletypeGroup
+        autocmd!
+        autocmd BufEnter,BufRead *.x setf xfiletype
+        autocmd BufEnter,BufRead *.y set filetype=yfiletype
+        autocmd BufEnter,BufRead *.z setlocal filetype=zfiletype
+        autocmd BufEnter,BufRead *.jsx set filetype=javascript.jsx
+    augroup END
+
+After:
+  unlet! g:map
+  augroup TestFiletypeGroup
+      autocmd!
+  augroup END
+  augroup! TestFiletypeGroup
+
+Execute(ALE should parse autocmd filetypes correctly):
+  let g:map = ale#filetypes#LoadExtensionMap()
+
+  AssertEqual '.x', g:map['xfiletype']
+  AssertEqual '.y', g:map['yfiletype']
+  AssertEqual '.z', g:map['zfiletype']
+  AssertEqual '.jsx', g:map['javascript.jsx']
+
+Execute(ALE should guess file extensions appropriately):
+  " The whole string should be used, if there's a match.
+  AssertEqual '.jsx', ale#filetypes#GuessExtension('javascript.jsx')
+  " The first part should be used.
+  AssertEqual '.x', ale#filetypes#GuessExtension('xfiletype.yfiletype')