diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 25a66f60..bcc77a4f 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@
 # Anything binary NOT listed here still commits fine (just not LFS-optimized) — the
 # post-stage size check catches large stragglers.
 
+# ---- Byte-for-byte mirror: NO end-of-line conversion on ANY machine ----
+# This overrides each cloner's global core.autocrlf (Git-for-Windows defaults it to true,
+# which would expand LF->CRLF on checkout). With `* -text`, git never converts EOLs, so a
+# clone restores files exactly as committed. `diff` overrides below keep source readable.
+* -text
+
 # ---- Game/art assets ----
 *.tga      filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
 *.bmp      filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
@@ -75,6 +81,30 @@
 *.db       filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
 *.mr       filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
 
-# NOTE: intentionally NO `text`/eol attributes. This is a byte-for-byte mirror — with
-# core.autocrlf=false and no text attrs, git stores/restores text files exactly as-is
-# (no LF<->CRLF conversion) and still auto-detects text for diffs. Do not add `text` here.
+# ---- Readable diffs for text/source (force textual diff; `-text` above still prevents
+#      any EOL conversion, so byte-exactness is preserved) ----
+*.cpp        diff
+*.hpp        diff
+*.h          diff
+*.c          diff
+*.inl        diff
+*.idl        diff
+*.rc         diff
+*.def        diff
+*.dsp        diff
+*.dsw        diff
+*.mak        diff
+*.script     diff
+*.build      diff
+*.instance   diff
+*.contents   diff
+*.subsystems diff
+*.abl        diff
+*.abi        diff
+*.hint       diff
+*.txt        diff
+*.md         diff
+*.ps1        diff
+*.bat        diff
+*.reg        diff
+*.h          diff