diff --git a/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst b/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst
index 908eaa2fccb..18aa31dcf30 100644
--- a/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst
+++ b/docsite/rst/playbooks_variables.rst
@@ -208,6 +208,32 @@ To get the symmetric difference of 2 lists (items exclusive to each list)::
 
     {{ list1 | symmetric_difference(list2) }}
 
+.. _version_comparison_filters:
+
+Version Comparison Filters
+--------------------------
+
+.. versionadded:: 1.6
+
+To compare a version number, such as checking if the ``ansible_distribution_version``
+version is greater than or equal to '12.04', you can use the ``version_compare`` filter::
+
+The ``version_compare`` filter can also be used to evaluate the ``ansible_distribution_version``::
+
+    {{ ansible_distribution_version | version_compare('12.04', '>=') }}
+
+If ``ansible_distribution_version`` is greater than or equal to 12, this filter will return True, otherwise
+it will return False.
+
+The ``version_compare`` filter accepts the following operators::
+
+    <, lt, <=, le, >, gt, >=, ge, ==, =, eq, !=, <>, ne
+
+This filter also accepts a 3rd parameter, ``strict`` which defines if strict version parsing should
+be used.  The default is ``False``, and if set as ``True`` will use more strict version parsing::
+
+    {{ sample_version_var | version_compare('1.0', operator='lt', strict=True) }}
+
 .. _other_useful_filters:
 
 Other Useful Filters
diff --git a/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py b/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
index a511b18bcb1..8bad776cbe8 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/runner/filter_plugins/core.py
@@ -23,8 +23,10 @@ import types
 import pipes
 import glob
 import re
+import operator as py_operator
 from ansible import errors
 from ansible.utils import md5s
+from distutils.version import LooseVersion, StrictVersion
 
 def to_nice_yaml(*a, **kw):
     '''Make verbose, human readable yaml'''
@@ -151,6 +153,33 @@ def symmetric_difference(a, b):
 def union(a, b):
     return set(a).union(b)
 
+def version_compare(value, version, operator='eq', strict=False):
+    ''' Perform a version comparison on a value '''
+    op_map = {
+        '==': 'eq', '=':  'eq', 'eq': 'eq',
+        '<':  'lt', 'lt': 'lt',
+        '<=': 'le', 'le': 'le',
+        '>':  'gt', 'gt': 'gt',
+        '>=': 'ge', 'ge': 'ge',
+        '!=': 'ne', '<>': 'ne', 'ne': 'ne'
+    }
+
+    if strict:
+        Version = StrictVersion
+    else:
+        Version = LooseVersion
+
+    if operator in op_map:
+        operator = op_map[operator]
+    else:
+        raise errors.AnsibleFilterError('Invalid operator type')
+
+    try:
+        method = getattr(py_operator, operator)
+        return method(Version(str(value)), Version(str(version)))
+    except Exception, e:
+        raise errors.AnsibleFilterError('Version comparison: %s' % e)
+
 class FilterModule(object):
     ''' Ansible core jinja2 filters '''
 
@@ -213,5 +242,8 @@ class FilterModule(object):
             'difference': difference,
             'symmetric_difference': symmetric_difference,
             'union': union,
+
+            # version comparison
+            'version_compare': version_compare,
         }
 
diff --git a/test/units/TestFilters.py b/test/units/TestFilters.py
index e79d4c8970d..9389147516c 100644
--- a/test/units/TestFilters.py
+++ b/test/units/TestFilters.py
@@ -152,3 +152,26 @@ class TestFilters(unittest.TestCase):
         #out = open(dest).read()
         #self.assertEqual(DEST, out)
 
+    def test_version_compare(self):
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(0, 1.1, 'lt', False))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.1, 1.2, '<'))
+
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.2, 1.2, '=='))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.2, 1.2, '='))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.2, 1.2, 'eq'))
+
+
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.3, 1.2, 'gt'))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.3, 1.2, '>'))
+
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.3, 1.2, 'ne'))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.3, 1.2, '!='))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.3, 1.2, '<>'))
+
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.1, 1.1, 'ge'))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.2, 1.1, '>='))
+
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.1, 1.1, 'le'))
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare(1.0, 1.1, '<='))
+
+        self.assertTrue(ansible.runner.filter_plugins.core.version_compare('12.04', 12, 'ge'))