diff --git a/sphinx/highlighting.py b/sphinx/highlighting.py
index d85aac237..927b42d95 100644
--- a/sphinx/highlighting.py
+++ b/sphinx/highlighting.py
@@ -82,7 +82,12 @@ if sys.version_info < (2, 5):
 
 
 class PygmentsBridge(object):
-    def __init__(self, dest='html', stylename='sphinx'):
+    # Set these attributes if you want to have different Pygments formatters
+    # than the default ones.
+    html_formatter = HtmlFormatter
+    latex_formatter = LatexFormatter
+
+    def __init__(self, dest='html', stylename='sphinx', ):
         self.dest = dest
         if not pygments:
             return
@@ -93,11 +98,14 @@ class PygmentsBridge(object):
             style = getattr(__import__(module, None, None, ['__name__']), stylename)
         else:
             style = get_style_by_name(stylename)
-        self.hfmter = {False: HtmlFormatter(style=style),
-                       True: HtmlFormatter(style=style, linenos=True)}
-        self.lfmter = {False: LatexFormatter(style=style, commandprefix='PYG'),
-                       True: LatexFormatter(style=style, linenos=True,
-                                            commandprefix='PYG')}
+        if dest == 'html':
+            self.fmter = {False: self.html_formatter(style=style),
+                          True: self.html_formatter(style=style, linenos=True)}
+        else:
+            self.fmter = {False: self.latex_formatter(style=style,
+                                                      commandprefix='PYG'),
+                          True: self.latex_formatter(style=style, linenos=True,
+                                                     commandprefix='PYG')}
 
     def unhighlighted(self, source):
         if self.dest == 'html':
@@ -171,9 +179,9 @@ class PygmentsBridge(object):
                 lexer.add_filter('raiseonerror')
         try:
             if self.dest == 'html':
-                return highlight(source, lexer, self.hfmter[bool(linenos)])
+                return highlight(source, lexer, self.fmter[bool(linenos)])
             else:
-                hlsource = highlight(source, lexer, self.lfmter[bool(linenos)])
+                hlsource = highlight(source, lexer, self.fmter[bool(linenos)])
                 return hlsource.translate(tex_hl_escape_map)
         except ErrorToken:
             # this is most probably not the selected language,
@@ -187,9 +195,9 @@ class PygmentsBridge(object):
             # no HTML styles needed
             return ''
         if self.dest == 'html':
-            return self.hfmter[0].get_style_defs()
+            return self.fmter[0].get_style_defs()
         else:
-            styledefs = self.lfmter[0].get_style_defs()
+            styledefs = self.fmter[0].get_style_defs()
             # workaround for Pygments < 0.12
             if styledefs.startswith('\\newcommand\\at{@}'):
                 styledefs += _LATEX_STYLES
diff --git a/tests/test_highlighting.py b/tests/test_highlighting.py
index 5c3539468..067c37cba 100644
--- a/tests/test_highlighting.py
+++ b/tests/test_highlighting.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from util import *
 
 from pygments.lexer import RegexLexer
 from pygments.token import Text, Name
+from pygments.formatters.html import HtmlFormatter
 
 from sphinx.highlighting import PygmentsBridge
 
@@ -27,6 +28,10 @@ class MyLexer(RegexLexer):
         ],
     }
 
+class MyFormatter(HtmlFormatter):
+    def format(self, tokensource, outfile):
+        outfile.write('test')
+
 
 @with_app()
 def test_add_lexer(app):
@@ -35,3 +40,12 @@ def test_add_lexer(app):
     bridge = PygmentsBridge('html')
     ret = bridge.highlight_block('ab', 'test')
     assert '<span class="n">a</span>b' in ret
+
+def test_set_formatter():
+    PygmentsBridge.html_formatter = MyFormatter
+    try:
+        bridge = PygmentsBridge('html')
+        ret = bridge.highlight_block('foo', 'python')
+        assert ret == 'test'
+    finally:
+        PygmentsBridge.html_formatter = HtmlFormatter