diff --git a/telethon/tl/message_container.py b/telethon/tl/message_container.py
index 12d617cc..58fb8021 100644
--- a/telethon/tl/message_container.py
+++ b/telethon/tl/message_container.py
@@ -11,15 +11,20 @@ class MessageContainer(TLObject):
         self.content_related = False
         self.messages = messages
 
+    def to_dict(self, recursive=True):
+        return {
+            'content_related': self.content_related,
+            'messages':
+                ([] if self.messages is None else [
+                    None if x is None else x.to_dict() for x in self.messages
+                ]) if recursive else self.messages,
+        }
+
     def __bytes__(self):
         return struct.pack(
             '<Ii', MessageContainer.CONSTRUCTOR_ID, len(self.messages)
         ) + b''.join(bytes(m) for m in self.messages)
 
-    def __str__(self):
-        return 'MessageContainer(messages=[{}])'\
-            .format(', '.join(str(m) for m in self.messages))
-
     @staticmethod
     def iter_read(reader):
         reader.read_int(signed=False)  # code
@@ -29,3 +34,9 @@ class MessageContainer(TLObject):
             inner_sequence = reader.read_int()
             inner_length = reader.read_int()
             yield inner_msg_id, inner_sequence, inner_length
+
+    def __str__(self):
+        return TLObject.pretty_format(self)
+
+    def stringify(self):
+        return TLObject.pretty_format(self, indent=0)
diff --git a/telethon/tl/tl_message.py b/telethon/tl/tl_message.py
index b524b75b..bcb48279 100644
--- a/telethon/tl/tl_message.py
+++ b/telethon/tl/tl_message.py
@@ -13,10 +13,20 @@ class TLMessage(TLObject):
         self.request = request
         self.container_msg_id = None
 
+    def to_dict(self, recursive=True):
+        return {
+            'msg_id': self.msg_id,
+            'seq_no': self.seq_no,
+            'request': self.request,
+            'container_msg_id': self.container_msg_id,
+        }
+
     def __bytes__(self):
         body = GzipPacked.gzip_if_smaller(self.request)
         return struct.pack('<qii', self.msg_id, self.seq_no, len(body)) + body
 
     def __str__(self):
-        return 'TLMessage(msg_id={}, seq_no={}, body={})'\
-            .format(self.msg_id, self.seq_no, self.request)
+        return TLObject.pretty_format(self)
+
+    def stringify(self):
+        return TLObject.pretty_format(self, indent=0)