diff --git a/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt b/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt
index d65cdb3d08..7baf9e47b5 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-fast-import.txt
@@ -388,6 +388,7 @@ change to the project.
 	original-oid?
 	('author' (SP <name>)? SP LT <email> GT SP <when> LF)?
 	'committer' (SP <name>)? SP LT <email> GT SP <when> LF
+	('encoding' SP <encoding>)?
 	data
 	('from' SP <commit-ish> LF)?
 	('merge' SP <commit-ish> LF)?
@@ -455,6 +456,12 @@ that was selected by the --date-format=<fmt> command-line option.
 See ``Date Formats'' above for the set of supported formats, and
 their syntax.
 
+`encoding`
+^^^^^^^^^^
+The optional `encoding` command indicates the encoding of the commit
+message.  Most commits are UTF-8 and the encoding is omitted, but this
+allows importing commit messages into git without first reencoding them.
+
 `from`
 ^^^^^^
 The `from` command is used to specify the commit to initialize
diff --git a/fast-import.c b/fast-import.c
index f38d04fa58..76a7bd3699 100644
--- a/fast-import.c
+++ b/fast-import.c
@@ -2585,6 +2585,7 @@ static void parse_new_commit(const char *arg)
 	struct branch *b;
 	char *author = NULL;
 	char *committer = NULL;
+	const char *encoding = NULL;
 	struct hash_list *merge_list = NULL;
 	unsigned int merge_count;
 	unsigned char prev_fanout, new_fanout;
@@ -2607,6 +2608,8 @@ static void parse_new_commit(const char *arg)
 	}
 	if (!committer)
 		die("Expected committer but didn't get one");
+	if (skip_prefix(command_buf.buf, "encoding ", &encoding))
+		read_next_command();
 	parse_data(&msg, 0, NULL);
 	read_next_command();
 	parse_from(b);
@@ -2670,9 +2673,13 @@ static void parse_new_commit(const char *arg)
 	}
 	strbuf_addf(&new_data,
 		"author %s\n"
-		"committer %s\n"
-		"\n",
+		"committer %s\n",
 		author ? author : committer, committer);
+	if (encoding)
+		strbuf_addf(&new_data,
+			"encoding %s\n",
+			encoding);
+	strbuf_addch(&new_data, '\n');
 	strbuf_addbuf(&new_data, &msg);
 	free(author);
 	free(committer);
diff --git a/t/t9300-fast-import.sh b/t/t9300-fast-import.sh
index 3668263c40..141b7fa35e 100755
--- a/t/t9300-fast-import.sh
+++ b/t/t9300-fast-import.sh
@@ -3299,4 +3299,24 @@ test_expect_success !MINGW 'W: get-mark & empty orphan commit with erroneous thi
 	sed -e s/LFs/LLL/ W-input | tr L "\n" | test_must_fail git fast-import
 '
 
+###
+### series X (other new features)
+###
+
+test_expect_success 'X: handling encoding' '
+	test_tick &&
+	cat >input <<-INPUT_END &&
+	commit refs/heads/encoding
+	committer $GIT_COMMITTER_NAME <$GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL> $GIT_COMMITTER_DATE
+	encoding iso-8859-7
+	data <<COMMIT
+	INPUT_END
+
+	printf "Pi: \360\nCOMMIT\n" >>input &&
+
+	git fast-import <input &&
+	git cat-file -p encoding | grep $(printf "\360") &&
+	git log -1 --format=%B encoding | grep $(printf "\317\200")
+'
+
 test_done