diff --git a/phpstan-baseline.neon b/phpstan-baseline.neon
index 6270d1747f..bc1ec76c35 100644
--- a/phpstan-baseline.neon
+++ b/phpstan-baseline.neon
@@ -1872,12 +1872,6 @@ parameters:
 			count: 2
 			path: wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/html/output/node/HtmlOutputNodeImg.class.php
 
-		-
-			message: '#^Construct empty\(\) is not allowed\. Use more strict comparison\.$#'
-			identifier: empty.notAllowed
-			count: 1
-			path: wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/html/output/node/HtmlOutputNodePre.class.php
-
 		-
 			message: '#^Construct empty\(\) is not allowed\. Use more strict comparison\.$#'
 			identifier: empty.notAllowed
diff --git a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/code/SourceCodeRenderer.class.php b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/code/SourceCodeRenderer.class.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f293bee04a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/code/SourceCodeRenderer.class.php
@@ -0,0 +1,251 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace wcf\system\code;
+
+use wcf\system\bbcode\BBCodeHandler;
+use wcf\system\Regex;
+use wcf\system\WCF;
+
+/**
+ * Renders source code listings including syntax highlighting.
+ *
+ * @author      Marcel Werk
+ * @copyright   2001-2026 WoltLab GmbH
+ * @license     GNU Lesser General Public License <http://opensource.org/licenses/lgpl-license.php>
+ * @since       6.3
+ */
+class SourceCodeRenderer
+{
+    /**
+     * aliases for highlighters that are not known by the client-side highlighter
+     * @var array<string, string>
+     */
+    private const HIGHLIGHTER_ALIASES = [
+        'js' => 'javascript',
+        'c++' => 'cpp',
+        'tex' => 'latex',
+        'shell' => 'bash',
+    ];
+
+    /**
+     * already used ids for line numbers to prevent duplicate ids in the output
+     * @var array<string, bool>
+     */
+    private static array $codeIDs = [];
+
+    /**
+     * Renders the given source code. If no highlighter is provided, the used
+     * language is guessed based on the content.
+     */
+    public function render(
+        string $content,
+        string $highlighter = '',
+        string $filename = '',
+        int $startLineNumber = 1,
+        string $codeIDPrefix = ''
+    ): string {
+        $content = $this->trimContent($content);
+
+        if ($startLineNumber < 1) {
+            $startLineNumber = 1;
+        }
+
+        $highlighter = $this->getHighlighter($content, $highlighter);
+
+        $meta = BBCodeHandler::getInstance()->getHighlighterMeta();
+        $title = WCF::getLanguage()->get('wcf.bbcode.code');
+        if (isset($meta[$highlighter])) {
+            $title = $meta[$highlighter]['title'];
+        } else {
+            $highlighter = '';
+        }
+
+        $lines = $this->splitLines($content);
+
+        return WCF::getTPL()->render('wcf', 'shared_codeMetaCode', [
+            'codeID' => $this->getCodeID($codeIDPrefix, $content),
+            'startLineNumber' => $startLineNumber,
+            'content' => $lines,
+            'language' => $highlighter,
+            'filename' => $filename,
+            'title' => $title,
+            'lines' => \count($lines),
+        ]);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Removes a leading and a trailing empty line from the given content.
+     */
+    public function trimContent(string $content): string
+    {
+        $content = \preg_replace('/^\s*\n/', '', $content);
+
+        return \preg_replace('/\n\s*$/', '', $content);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the highlighter that should be used for the given content. The
+     * highlighter is guessed if no highlighter is provided.
+     */
+    public function getHighlighter(string $content, string $highlighter = ''): string
+    {
+        $highlighter = $this->normalizeHighlighter($highlighter);
+        if ($highlighter === '') {
+            $highlighter = $this->guessHighlighter($content);
+        }
+
+        return $highlighter;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Resolves known aliases of highlighter names.
+     */
+    public function normalizeHighlighter(string $highlighter): string
+    {
+        return self::HIGHLIGHTER_ALIASES[$highlighter] ?? $highlighter;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Splits the content into single lines while preserving the line breaks.
+     *
+     * @return string[]
+     */
+    public function splitLines(string $content): array
+    {
+        $lines = \explode("\n", $content);
+        $last = \array_pop($lines);
+        $lines = \array_map(static fn (string $line) => $line . "\n", $lines);
+        $lines[] = $last;
+
+        return $lines;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns a likely highlighter for the given content.
+     */
+    public function guessHighlighter(string $content): string
+    {
+        // PHP at the beginning is almost surely PHP.
+        if (\str_starts_with($content, '<?php')) {
+            return 'php';
+        }
+
+        if (
+            \str_starts_with($content, 'SELECT')
+            || \str_starts_with($content, 'UPDATE')
+            || \str_starts_with($content, 'INSERT')
+            || \str_starts_with($content, 'DELETE')
+        ) {
+            return 'sql';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_contains($content, 'import java.')) {
+            return 'java';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_contains($content, 'using System;')) {
+            return 'csharp';
+        }
+
+        if (
+            \str_contains($content, "---")
+            && \str_contains($content, "\n+++")
+        ) {
+            return 'diff';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_contains($content, "\n#include ")) {
+            return 'c';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_starts_with($content, '#!/usr/bin/perl')) {
+            return 'perl';
+        }
+
+        if (
+            \str_starts_with($content, '#!/usr/bin/python')
+            || \str_contains($content, 'def __init__(self')
+            || Regex::compile("from (\\S+) import (\\S+)")->match($content) !== 0
+        ) {
+            return 'python';
+        }
+
+        if (Regex::compile('^#!(/usr)?/bin/(ba|z)?sh')->match($content) !== 0) {
+            return 'bash';
+        }
+
+        if (
+            \str_starts_with($content, 'FROM')
+            && \str_contains($content, "RUN")
+        ) {
+            return 'docker';
+        }
+
+        if (
+            \stripos($content, "RewriteRule") !== false
+            || \stripos($content, "RewriteEngine On") !== false
+            || \stripos($content, "AuthUserFile") !== false
+        ) {
+            return 'apacheconf';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_contains($content, '\\documentclass')) {
+            return 'latex';
+        }
+
+        // PHP somewhere later might not necessarily be PHP, it could also be
+        // a .patch or a Dockerfile.
+        if (\str_contains($content, '<?php')) {
+            return 'php';
+        }
+
+        if (
+            \str_contains($content, '{/if}')
+            && (
+                \str_contains($content, '<div')
+                || \str_contains($content, '<span')
+            )
+        ) {
+            return 'smarty';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_contains($content, '<html')) {
+            return 'html';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_starts_with($content, '<?xml')) {
+            return 'xml';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_contains($content, '@mixin')) {
+            return 'scss';
+        }
+
+        if (\str_contains($content, '!important;')) {
+            return 'css';
+        }
+
+        if (\preg_match('/(^|\n)HTTP\\/[0-9]\\.[0-9] [0-9]{3}/', $content)) {
+            return 'http';
+        }
+
+        return '';
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns a unique ID for the given code block.
+     */
+    public function getCodeID(string $prefix, string $code): string
+    {
+        $i = -1;
+        // find an unused codeID
+        do {
+            $codeID = $prefix . \mb_substr(\sha1($code), 0, 6) . (++$i !== 0 ? '_' . $i : '');
+        } while (isset(self::$codeIDs[$codeID]));
+
+        // mark codeID as used
+        self::$codeIDs[$codeID] = true;
+
+        return $codeID;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SharedConfigurationFormFields.class.php b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SharedConfigurationFormFields.class.php
index 0854aa8405..e0320050a7 100644
--- a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SharedConfigurationFormFields.class.php
+++ b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SharedConfigurationFormFields.class.php
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 namespace wcf\system\form\option;
 
 use wcf\event\form\option\SharedConfigurationFormFieldCollecting;
+use wcf\system\bbcode\BBCodeHandler;
 use wcf\system\event\EventHandler;
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\AbstractNumericFormField;
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\BooleanFormField;
@@ -10,9 +11,11 @@
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\IFormField;
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\IntegerFormField;
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\SelectOptionsFormField;
+use wcf\system\form\builder\field\SingleSelectionFormField;
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\TextFormField;
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\validation\FormFieldValidationError;
 use wcf\system\form\builder\field\validation\FormFieldValidator;
+use wcf\system\WCF;
 
 /**
  * Provides the available shared configuration form fields.
@@ -72,6 +75,12 @@ private function getDefaultFormFields(): array
             'required' => BooleanFormField::create('required')
                 ->label('wcf.form.option.shared.required')
                 ->value(false),
+            'sourceCodeLanguage' => SingleSelectionFormField::create('sourceCodeLanguage')
+                ->label('wcf.form.option.shared.sourceCodeLanguage')
+                ->description('wcf.form.option.shared.sourceCodeLanguage.description')
+                ->options($this->getSourceCodeLanguageOptions(), labelLanguageItems: false)
+                ->filterable()
+                ->nullable(),
             'unit' => TextFormField::create('unit')
                 ->label('wcf.form.option.shared.unit')
                 ->addFieldClass('short'),
@@ -82,6 +91,23 @@ private function getDefaultFormFields(): array
         ];
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the list of available syntax highlighters.
+     *
+     * @return array<string, string>
+     */
+    private function getSourceCodeLanguageOptions(): array
+    {
+        $options = [];
+        foreach (BBCodeHandler::getInstance()->getHighlighterMeta() as $identifier => $data) {
+            $options[$identifier] = $data['title'] . (\strtolower($data['title']) !== $identifier ? ' (' . $identifier . ')' : '');
+        }
+
+        \asort($options);
+
+        return ['' => WCF::getLanguage()->get('wcf.global.noSelection')] + $options;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns a validator that ensures that the maximum value of a form field is not
      * smaller than the minimum value provided by the form field with the given id.
diff --git a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SourceCodeFormOption.class.php b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SourceCodeFormOption.class.php
index ec1e5e74bf..994e0f591e 100644
--- a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SourceCodeFormOption.class.php
+++ b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/SourceCodeFormOption.class.php
@@ -26,10 +26,23 @@ public function getId(): string
         return 'sourceCode';
     }
 
+    #[\Override]
+    public function getConfigurationFormFields(): array
+    {
+        return \array_merge(parent::getConfigurationFormFields(), ['sourceCodeLanguage']);
+    }
+
     #[\Override]
     public function getFormField(string $id, array $configuration = []): AbstractFormField
     {
-        return SourceCodeFormField::create($id);
+        $formField = SourceCodeFormField::create($id);
+
+        $language = (string)($configuration['sourceCodeLanguage'] ?? '');
+        if (\in_array($language, SourceCodeFormField::LANGUAGES, true)) {
+            $formField->language($language);
+        }
+
+        return $formField;
     }
 
     #[\Override]
diff --git a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/formatter/SourceCodeFormatter.class.php b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/formatter/SourceCodeFormatter.class.php
index 7774050d48..399a9ef46b 100644
--- a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/formatter/SourceCodeFormatter.class.php
+++ b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/form/option/formatter/SourceCodeFormatter.class.php
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 namespace wcf\system\form\option\formatter;
 
-use wcf\util\StringUtil;
+use wcf\system\code\SourceCodeRenderer;
 
 /**
  * Formatter for source code values.
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ final class SourceCodeFormatter implements IFormOptionFormatter
     #[\Override]
     public function format(string $value, int $languageID, array $configuration): string
     {
-        return '<pre style="overflow: auto">' . StringUtil::encodeHTML($value) . '</pre>';
+        return (new SourceCodeRenderer())->render(
+            $value,
+            (string)($configuration['sourceCodeLanguage'] ?? ''),
+            codeIDPrefix: 'formOption_'
+        );
     }
 }
diff --git a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/html/output/node/HtmlOutputNodePre.class.php b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/html/output/node/HtmlOutputNodePre.class.php
index f1c6d13c97..5d981e2a3c 100644
--- a/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/html/output/node/HtmlOutputNodePre.class.php
+++ b/wcfsetup/install/files/lib/system/html/output/node/HtmlOutputNodePre.class.php
@@ -2,10 +2,9 @@
 
 namespace wcf\system\html\output\node;
 
-use wcf\system\bbcode\BBCodeHandler;
+use wcf\system\code\SourceCodeRenderer;
 use wcf\system\event\EventHandler;
 use wcf\system\html\node\AbstractHtmlNodeProcessor;
-use wcf\system\Regex;
 use wcf\system\WCF;
 
 /**
@@ -22,11 +21,7 @@ class HtmlOutputNodePre extends AbstractHtmlOutputNode
      */
     protected $tagName = 'pre';
 
-    /**
-     * already used ids for line numbers to prevent duplicate ids in the output
-     * @var string[]
-     */
-    private static $codeIDs = [];
+    private ?SourceCodeRenderer $renderer = null;
 
     #[\Override]
     public function process(array $elements, AbstractHtmlNodeProcessor $htmlNodeProcessor)
@@ -84,64 +79,28 @@ public function replaceTag(array $data)
             return $data['rawHTML'];
         }
 
-        $content = \preg_replace('/^\s*\n/', '', $data['content']);
-        $content = \preg_replace('/\n\s*$/', '', $content);
+        $content = $this->getRenderer()->trimContent($data['content']);
+        $highlighter = $this->getRenderer()->getHighlighter($content, $data['highlighter']);
 
-        $file = $data['file'];
-        $highlighter = $data['highlighter'];
-        $line = ($data['line'] < 1) ? 1 : $data['line'];
-
-        switch ($highlighter) {
-            case 'js':
-                $highlighter = 'javascript';
-                break;
-            case 'c++':
-                $highlighter = 'cpp';
-                break;
-            case 'tex':
-                $highlighter = 'latex';
-                break;
-            case 'shell':
-                $highlighter = 'bash';
-                break;
-        }
-
-        if (empty($highlighter)) {
-            $highlighter = $this->guessHighlighter($content);
-        }
         $eventData = [
             'highlighter' => $highlighter,
             'data' => $data,
             'content' => $content,
         ];
         EventHandler::getInstance()->fireAction($this, 'selectHighlighter', $eventData);
-        $highlighter = $eventData['highlighter'];
 
-        $meta = BBCodeHandler::getInstance()->getHighlighterMeta();
-        $title = WCF::getLanguage()->get('wcf.bbcode.code');
-        if (isset($meta[$highlighter])) {
-            $title = $meta[$highlighter]['title'];
-        } else {
-            $highlighter = null;
-        }
-
-        $splitContent = \explode("\n", $content);
-        $last = \array_pop($splitContent);
-        $splitContent = \array_map(static function ($item) {
-            return $item . "\n";
-        }, $splitContent);
-        $splitContent[] = $last;
+        return $this->getRenderer()->render(
+            $content,
+            $eventData['highlighter'],
+            $data['file'],
+            (int)$data['line'],
+            $data['prefix'] ?? ''
+        );
+    }
 
-        // show template
-        return WCF::getTPL()->render('wcf', 'shared_codeMetaCode', [
-            'codeID' => $this->getCodeID($data['prefix'] ?? '', $content),
-            'startLineNumber' => $line,
-            'content' => $splitContent,
-            'language' => $highlighter,
-            'filename' => $file,
-            'title' => $title,
-            'lines' => \count($splitContent),
-        ]);
+    private function getRenderer(): SourceCodeRenderer
+    {
+        return $this->renderer ??= new SourceCodeRenderer();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -151,111 +110,7 @@ public function replaceTag(array $data)
      */
     public function guessHighlighter(string $content)
     {
-        // PHP at the beginning is almost surely PHP.
-        if (\str_starts_with($content, '<?php')) {
-            return 'php';
-        }
-
-        if (
-            \str_starts_with($content, 'SELECT')
-            || \str_starts_with($content, 'UPDATE')
-            || \str_starts_with($content, 'INSERT')
-            || \str_starts_with($content, 'DELETE')
-        ) {
-            return 'sql';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_contains($content, 'import java.')) {
-            return 'java';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_contains($content, 'using System;')) {
-            return 'csharp';
-        }
-
-        if (
-            \str_contains($content, "---")
-            && \str_contains($content, "\n+++")
-        ) {
-            return 'diff';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_contains($content, "\n#include ")) {
-            return 'c';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_starts_with($content, '#!/usr/bin/perl')) {
-            return 'perl';
-        }
-
-        if (
-            \str_starts_with($content, '#!/usr/bin/python')
-            || \str_contains($content, 'def __init__(self')
-            || Regex::compile("from (\\S+) import (\\S+)")->match($content) !== 0
-        ) {
-            return 'python';
-        }
-
-        if (Regex::compile('^#!(/usr)?/bin/(ba|z)?sh')->match($content) !== 0) {
-            return 'bash';
-        }
-
-        if (
-            \str_starts_with($content, 'FROM')
-            && \str_contains($content, "RUN")
-        ) {
-            return 'docker';
-        }
-
-        if (
-            \stripos($content, "RewriteRule") !== false
-            || \stripos($content, "RewriteEngine On") !== false
-            || \stripos($content, "AuthUserFile") !== false
-        ) {
-            return 'apacheconf';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_contains($content, '\\documentclass')) {
-            return 'latex';
-        }
-
-        // PHP somewhere later might not necessarily be PHP, it could also be
-        // a .patch or a Dockerfile.
-        if (\str_contains($content, '<?php')) {
-            return 'php';
-        }
-
-        if (
-            \str_contains($content, '{/if}')
-            && (
-                \str_contains($content, '<div')
-                || \str_contains($content, '<span')
-            )
-        ) {
-            return 'smarty';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_contains($content, '<html')) {
-            return 'html';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_starts_with($content, '<?xml')) {
-            return 'xml';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_contains($content, '@mixin')) {
-            return 'scss';
-        }
-
-        if (\str_contains($content, '!important;')) {
-            return 'css';
-        }
-
-        if (\preg_match('/(^|\n)HTTP\\/[0-9]\\.[0-9] [0-9]{3}/', $content)) {
-            return 'http';
-        }
-
-        return '';
+        return $this->getRenderer()->guessHighlighter($content);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -265,15 +120,6 @@ public function guessHighlighter(string $content)
      */
     protected function getCodeID(string $prefix, string $code)
     {
-        $i = -1;
-        // find an unused codeID
-        do {
-            $codeID = $prefix . \mb_substr(\sha1($code), 0, 6) . (++$i !== 0 ? '_' . $i : '');
-        } while (isset(self::$codeIDs[$codeID]));
-
-        // mark codeID as used
-        self::$codeIDs[$codeID] = true;
-
-        return $codeID;
+        return $this->getRenderer()->getCodeID($prefix, $code);
     }
 }
diff --git a/wcfsetup/install/lang/de.xml b/wcfsetup/install/lang/de.xml
index 4b1fbaa48f..321fbe3250 100644
--- a/wcfsetup/install/lang/de.xml
+++ b/wcfsetup/install/lang/de.xml
@@ -4047,6 +4047,8 @@ Dateianhänge:
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.maxValue.error.minimum"><![CDATA[Das Maximum darf nicht kleiner als das Minimum ({#$minimum}) sein.]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.selectOptions"><![CDATA[Auswahloptionen]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.required"><![CDATA[Das Feld muss zwingend ausgefüllt werden]]></item>
+		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.sourceCodeLanguage"><![CDATA[Programmiersprache]]></item>
+		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.sourceCodeLanguage.description"><![CDATA[Wird keine Sprache ausgewählt, wird sie automatisch anhand des eingegebenen Quellcodes erkannt.]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.unit"><![CDATA[Einheit]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.urlLinkText"><![CDATA[Linktext]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.optionType"><![CDATA[Feldtyp]]></item>
diff --git a/wcfsetup/install/lang/en.xml b/wcfsetup/install/lang/en.xml
index 8fc0c952d4..5ca02385fc 100644
--- a/wcfsetup/install/lang/en.xml
+++ b/wcfsetup/install/lang/en.xml
@@ -3993,6 +3993,8 @@ Attachments:
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.maxValue.error.minimum"><![CDATA[The maximum may not be less than the minimum ({#$minimum}).]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.selectOptions"><![CDATA[Options]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.required"><![CDATA[This is a required field]]></item>
+		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.sourceCodeLanguage"><![CDATA[Programming Language]]></item>
+		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.sourceCodeLanguage.description"><![CDATA[If no language is selected, it is detected automatically based on the entered source code.]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.unit"><![CDATA[Unit]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.shared.urlLinkText"><![CDATA[Link Text]]></item>
 		<item name="wcf.form.option.optionType"><![CDATA[Option Type]]></item>