diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/abstractprocessstep.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/abstractprocessstep.cpp
index b8902ea98ad..fce8f478185 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/abstractprocessstep.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/abstractprocessstep.cpp
@@ -136,10 +136,10 @@ AbstractProcessStep::~AbstractProcessStep()
 
 void AbstractProcessStep::setOutputParser(IOutputParser *parser)
 {
-    d->m_outputParserChain.reset(new AnsiFilterParser);
-    d->m_outputParserChain->appendOutputParser(parser);
-
-    connect(d->m_outputParserChain.get(), &IOutputParser::addTask, this, &AbstractProcessStep::taskAdded);
+    parser->addFilter(&Internal::filterAnsiEscapeCodes);
+    d->m_outputParserChain.reset(parser);
+    connect(d->m_outputParserChain.get(), &IOutputParser::addTask,
+            this, &AbstractProcessStep::taskAdded);
 }
 
 /*!
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.cpp
index a2db2c1a6f9..a4540845ce8 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.cpp
@@ -25,7 +25,18 @@
 
 #include "ansifilterparser.h"
 
-namespace {
+#ifdef WITH_TESTS
+#include "projectexplorer.h"
+#include "outputparser_test.h"
+#include "task.h"
+
+#include <QTest>
+#endif // WITH_TESTS
+
+
+namespace ProjectExplorer {
+namespace Internal {
+
 enum AnsiState {
     PLAIN,
     ANSI_START,
@@ -34,26 +45,8 @@ enum AnsiState {
     ANSI_WAITING_FOR_ST,
     ANSI_ST_STARTED
 };
-} // namespace
 
-using namespace ProjectExplorer;
-
-AnsiFilterParser::AnsiFilterParser()
-{
-    setObjectName(QLatin1String("AnsiFilterParser"));
-}
-
-void AnsiFilterParser::stdOutput(const QString &line)
-{
-    IOutputParser::stdOutput(filterLine(line));
-}
-
-void AnsiFilterParser::stdError(const QString &line)
-{
-    IOutputParser::stdError(filterLine(line));
-}
-
-QString AnsiFilterParser::filterLine(const QString &line)
+QString filterAnsiEscapeCodes(const QString &line)
 {
     QString result;
     result.reserve(line.count());
@@ -104,15 +97,9 @@ QString AnsiFilterParser::filterLine(const QString &line)
     }
     return result;
 }
+} // namespace Internal
 
-// Unit tests:
 #ifdef WITH_TESTS
-#   include <QTest>
-
-#   include "projectexplorer.h"
-#   include "outputparser_test.h"
-#   include "task.h"
-
 void ProjectExplorerPlugin::testAnsiFilterOutputParser_data()
 {
     QTest::addColumn<QString>("input");
@@ -161,7 +148,7 @@ void ProjectExplorerPlugin::testAnsiFilterOutputParser_data()
 void ProjectExplorerPlugin::testAnsiFilterOutputParser()
 {
     OutputParserTester testbench;
-    testbench.appendOutputParser(new AnsiFilterParser);
+    testbench.addFilter(&Internal::filterAnsiEscapeCodes);
     QFETCH(QString, input);
     QFETCH(OutputParserTester::Channel, inputChannel);
     QFETCH(QString, childStdOutLines);
@@ -173,3 +160,5 @@ void ProjectExplorerPlugin::testAnsiFilterOutputParser()
 }
 
 #endif
+
+} // namespace ProjectExplorer
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.h b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.h
index 6e19915a580..b3ec351c357 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.h
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ansifilterparser.h
@@ -30,18 +30,9 @@
 #include "projectexplorer_export.h"
 
 namespace ProjectExplorer {
+namespace Internal {
 
-class PROJECTEXPLORER_EXPORT AnsiFilterParser : public IOutputParser
-{
-    Q_OBJECT
-
-public:
-    AnsiFilterParser();
-    void stdOutput(const QString &line) override;
-    void stdError(const QString &line) override;
-
-private:
-    QString filterLine(const QString &line);
-};
+QString filterAnsiEscapeCodes(const QString &line);
 
+} // namespace Internal
 } // namespace ProjectExplorer
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.cpp b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.cpp
index 5a77a7384b5..3190c52f1a6 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.cpp
@@ -111,8 +111,9 @@ class OutputChannelState
 public:
     using LineHandler = void (IOutputParser::*)(const QString &line);
 
-    OutputChannelState(IOutputParser *parser, LineHandler lineHandler)
-        : parser(parser), lineHandler(lineHandler) {}
+    OutputChannelState(IOutputParser *parser, LineHandler lineHandler,
+                       QList<IOutputParser::Filter> &filters)
+        : parser(parser), lineHandler(lineHandler), filters(filters) {}
 
     void handleData(const QString &newData)
     {
@@ -124,20 +125,30 @@ public:
                 break;
             const QString line = pendingData.left(eolPos + 1);
             pendingData.remove(0, eolPos + 1);
-            (parser->*lineHandler)(line);
+            (parser->*lineHandler)(filteredLine(line));
         }
     }
 
     void flush()
     {
         if (!pendingData.isEmpty()) {
-            (parser->*lineHandler)(pendingData);
+            (parser->*lineHandler)(filteredLine(pendingData));
             pendingData.clear();
         }
     }
 
+    QString filteredLine(const QString &line)
+    {
+        QString l = line;
+        for (const IOutputParser::Filter &f : filters)
+            l = f(l);
+        return l;
+    }
+
+
     IOutputParser * const parser;
-    LineHandler lineHandler;
+    const LineHandler lineHandler;
+    QList<IOutputParser::Filter> &filters;
     QString pendingData;
 };
 
@@ -145,11 +156,12 @@ class IOutputParser::IOutputParserPrivate
 {
 public:
     IOutputParserPrivate(IOutputParser *parser)
-        : stdoutState(parser, &IOutputParser::stdOutput),
-          stderrState(parser, &IOutputParser::stdError)
+        : stdoutState(parser, &IOutputParser::stdOutput, filters),
+          stderrState(parser, &IOutputParser::stdError, filters)
     {}
 
     IOutputParser *childParser = nullptr;
+    QList<Filter> filters;
     Utils::FilePath workingDir;
     OutputChannelState stdoutState;
     OutputChannelState stderrState;
@@ -261,4 +273,9 @@ QString IOutputParser::rightTrimmed(const QString &in)
     return in.mid(0, pos);
 }
 
+void IOutputParser::addFilter(const Filter &filter)
+{
+    d->filters << filter;
+}
+
 } // namespace ProjectExplorer
diff --git a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.h b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.h
index cbebbf49d58..e288873fd35 100644
--- a/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.h
+++ b/src/plugins/projectexplorer/ioutputparser.h
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
 
 #include <utils/fileutils.h>
 
+#include <functional>
+
 namespace ProjectExplorer {
 class Task;
 
@@ -51,6 +53,9 @@ public:
 
     virtual bool hasFatalErrors() const;
 
+    using Filter = std::function<QString(const QString &)>;
+    void addFilter(const Filter &filter);
+
     void setWorkingDirectory(const Utils::FilePath &fn);
 
     void flush(); // flush pending tasks & output