diff --git a/classes/DataWarehouse/Export/FileManager.php b/classes/DataWarehouse/Export/FileManager.php
index 25d6189b9f..adee61ced0 100644
--- a/classes/DataWarehouse/Export/FileManager.php
+++ b/classes/DataWarehouse/Export/FileManager.php
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 use CCR\Loggable;
 use DataWarehouse\Data\BatchDataset;
+use DataWarehouse\Data\RawStatisticsConfiguration;
 use DataWarehouse\Export\FileWriter\FileWriterFactory;
 use Exception;
 use Log;
@@ -34,6 +35,12 @@ class FileManager extends Loggable
      */
     private $fileWriterFactory;
 
+    /**
+     * Raw statistics configuration.
+     * @var \DataWarehouse\Data\RawStatisticsConfiguration;
+     */
+    private $rawStatsConfig;
+
     /**
      * Construct a new file manager.
      *
@@ -46,6 +53,8 @@ public function __construct(Log $logger = null)
         $this->fileWriterFactory = new FileWriterFactory($logger);
         parent::__construct($logger);
 
+        $this->rawStatsConfig = RawStatisticsConfiguration::factory();
+
         try {
             $this->exportDir = xd_utilities\getConfiguration(
                 'data_warehouse_export',
@@ -243,6 +252,15 @@ public function createZipFile($dataFile, array $request)
                 ));
             }
 
+            $readmeText = $this->getReadmeText($request['realm']);
+            if (!$zip->addFromString('README.txt', $readmeText)) {
+                throw new Exception(sprintf(
+                    'Failed to add "README.txt" to zip file "%s"',
+                    $dataFile,
+                    $zipFile
+                ));
+            }
+
             if (!$zip->close()) {
                 throw new Exception(sprintf(
                     'Failed to close zip file "%s"',
@@ -309,4 +327,27 @@ public function removeDeletedRequests(array $deletedRequestIds)
             }
         }
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the contents for README.txt for a realm.
+     *
+     * @param string $realm The name of a realm.
+     * @return string
+     */
+    private function getReadmeText($realm)
+    {
+        $fields = $this->rawStatsConfig->getBatchExportFieldDefinitions($realm);
+
+        $text = "{$realm} Realm Fields\n\n";
+
+        foreach ($fields as $field) {
+            $text .= sprintf(
+                "%s: %s\n",
+                $field['name'],
+                $field['documentation']
+            );
+        }
+
+        return $text;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/artifacts/xdmod/component/export/file_manager/input/export-requests.json b/tests/artifacts/xdmod/component/export/file_manager/input/export-requests.json
index a4df1e1dd2..38791bbd30 100644
--- a/tests/artifacts/xdmod/component/export/file_manager/input/export-requests.json
+++ b/tests/artifacts/xdmod/component/export/file_manager/input/export-requests.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
         {
             "id": 1,
             "user_id": 1,
-            "realm": "jobs",
+            "realm": "Jobs",
             "start_date": "2018-01-01",
             "end_date": "2018-02-28",
             "export_file_format": "CSV",
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
         {
             "id": 2,
             "user_id": 1,
-            "realm": "jobs",
+            "realm": "Jobs",
             "start_date": "2001-01-01",
             "end_date": "2001-01-02",
             "export_file_format": "JSON",
diff --git a/tests/component/lib/Export/FileManagerTest.php b/tests/component/lib/Export/FileManagerTest.php
index 8c9af20117..c8de57f28f 100644
--- a/tests/component/lib/Export/FileManagerTest.php
+++ b/tests/component/lib/Export/FileManagerTest.php
@@ -191,9 +191,10 @@ public function testCreateZipFile(array $request)
         $zip = new ZipArchive();
         $openCode = $zip->open($zipFile, ZipArchive::CHECKCONS);
         $this->assertTrue($openCode, 'Open zip file');
-        $this->assertEquals(1, $zip->numFiles, 'File count in zip file');
+        $this->assertEquals(2, $zip->numFiles, 'File count in zip file');
         $dataFileName = self::$fileManager->getDataFileName($request);
         $this->assertEquals($dataFileName, $zip->getNameIndex(0), 'Data file name');
+        $this->assertEquals('README.txt', $zip->getNameIndex(1), 'README file name');
         $fileData = $zip->getFromName($dataFileName);
         $this->assertEquals($testData, $fileData, 'Data file contents');
         $zip->close();