diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 1cab7f703..3e935fda9 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 /.idea
+/.vscode
 .DS_Store
 /node_modules
diff --git a/packages/plugin-framework/src/typescript-imports.ts b/packages/plugin-framework/src/typescript-imports.ts
index a9cc9040b..b4acac7e5 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-framework/src/typescript-imports.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-framework/src/typescript-imports.ts
@@ -9,10 +9,11 @@ import {TypescriptFile} from "./typescript-file";
 export class TypeScriptImports {
 
     private readonly symbols: SymbolTable;
+    private readonly enable_import_extensions: boolean;
 
-
-    constructor(symbols: SymbolTable) {
+    constructor(symbols: SymbolTable, enable_import_extensions: boolean) {
         this.symbols = symbols;
+        this.enable_import_extensions = enable_import_extensions;
     }
 
 
@@ -76,7 +77,8 @@ export class TypeScriptImports {
         // add an import statement
         const importPath = createRelativeImportPath(
             source.getSourceFile().fileName,
-            symbolReg.file.getFilename()
+            symbolReg.file.getFilename(),
+            this.enable_import_extensions
         );
         const blackListedNames = this.symbols.list(source).map(e => e.name);
         return ensureNamedImportPresent(
@@ -285,7 +287,7 @@ export function findNamedImports(sourceFile: ts.SourceFile): { name: string, as:
  * Create a relative path for an import statement like
  * `import {Foo} from "./foo"`
  */
-function createRelativeImportPath(currentPath: string, pathToImportFrom: string): string {
+function createRelativeImportPath(currentPath: string, pathToImportFrom: string, addExtension: boolean): string {
     // create relative path to the file to import
     let fromPath = path.relative(path.dirname(currentPath), pathToImportFrom);
 
@@ -302,5 +304,10 @@ function createRelativeImportPath(currentPath: string, pathToImportFrom: string)
     if (!fromPath.startsWith('../') && !fromPath.startsWith('./')) {
         fromPath = './' + fromPath;
     }
+    
+    // add .js extensions on import statements for ESM compatibility with typescript and nodejs
+    if (addExtension === true) {
+        fromPath = fromPath + ".js";
+    }
     return fromPath;
 }
diff --git a/packages/plugin/src/our-options.ts b/packages/plugin/src/our-options.ts
index fca43b1df..0f3b35c3c 100644
--- a/packages/plugin/src/our-options.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin/src/our-options.ts
@@ -200,6 +200,7 @@ export interface InternalOptions {
     readonly transpileTarget: ts.ScriptTarget | undefined,
     readonly transpileModule: ts.ModuleKind,
     readonly addPbSuffix: boolean;
+    readonly enable_import_extensions: boolean;
 }
 
 export function makeInternalOptions(
@@ -232,6 +233,7 @@ export function makeInternalOptions(
         output_javascript_es2019: boolean,
         output_javascript_es2020: boolean,
         output_legacy_commonjs: boolean,
+        enable_import_extensions: boolean,
     },
     pluginCredit?: string,
 ): InternalOptions {
@@ -260,6 +262,7 @@ export function makeInternalOptions(
             transpileTarget: undefined,
             transpileModule: ts.ModuleKind.ES2015,
             addPbSuffix: false,
+            enable_import_extensions: true,
         },
     ) as Writeable<InternalOptions>;
     if (pluginCredit) {
@@ -418,4 +421,3 @@ export class OptionResolver {
     }
 
 }
-
diff --git a/packages/plugin/src/protobufts-plugin.ts b/packages/plugin/src/protobufts-plugin.ts
index 1724cec36..9f10f35bc 100644
--- a/packages/plugin/src/protobufts-plugin.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin/src/protobufts-plugin.ts
@@ -124,6 +124,11 @@ export class ProtobuftsPlugin extends PluginBase {
             excludes: ["output_typescript"]
         },
 
+        // Add file extension for ESM compatibility with node
+        enable_import_extensions: {
+            description: "Use .js extension for ESM import statements",
+        },
+
         // client
         client_none: {
             description: "Do not generate rpc clients. \n" +
@@ -216,7 +221,7 @@ export class ProtobuftsPlugin extends PluginBase {
             registry = DescriptorRegistry.createFrom(request),
             symbols = new SymbolTable(),
             fileTable = new FileTable(),
-            imports = new TypeScriptImports(symbols),
+            imports = new TypeScriptImports(symbols, options.enable_import_extensions),
             comments = new CommentGenerator(registry),
             interpreter = new Interpreter(registry, options),
             optionResolver = new OptionResolver(interpreter, registry, options),