diff --git a/python/pyspark/rdd.py b/python/pyspark/rdd.py
index 240381e5bae12..c708b69cc1e31 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/rdd.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/rdd.py
@@ -1191,7 +1191,9 @@ def func(split, iterator):
             for x in iterator:
                 if not isinstance(x, basestring):
                     x = unicode(x)
-                yield x.encode("utf-8")
+                if isinstance(x, unicode):
+                    x = x.encode("utf-8")
+                yield x
         keyed = self.mapPartitionsWithIndex(func)
         keyed._bypass_serializer = True
         keyed._jrdd.map(self.ctx._jvm.BytesToString()).saveAsTextFile(path)
diff --git a/python/pyspark/tests.py b/python/pyspark/tests.py
index f1fece998cd54..69d543d9d045d 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/tests.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/tests.py
@@ -256,6 +256,15 @@ def test_save_as_textfile_with_unicode(self):
         raw_contents = ''.join(input(glob(tempFile.name + "/part-0000*")))
         self.assertEqual(x, unicode(raw_contents.strip(), "utf-8"))
 
+    def test_save_as_textfile_with_utf8(self):
+        x = u"\u00A1Hola, mundo!"
+        data = self.sc.parallelize([x.encode("utf-8")])
+        tempFile = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=True)
+        tempFile.close()
+        data.saveAsTextFile(tempFile.name)
+        raw_contents = ''.join(input(glob(tempFile.name + "/part-0000*")))
+        self.assertEqual(x, unicode(raw_contents.strip(), "utf-8"))
+
     def test_transforming_cartesian_result(self):
         # Regression test for SPARK-1034
         rdd1 = self.sc.parallelize([1, 2])