diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/OutputFormatter.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/OutputFormatter.cs
index 18af391512..dc41744ed6 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/OutputFormatter.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/OutputFormatter.cs
@@ -182,19 +182,26 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc
             // Copy the media type as we don't want it to affect the next request
             selectedMediaType = selectedMediaType.Copy();
 
+            // Not text-based media types will use an encoding/charset - binary formats just ignore it. We want to
+            // make this class work with media types that use encodings, and those that don't.
+            //
+            // The default implementation of SelectCharacterEncoding will read from the list of SupportedEncodings
+            // and will always choose a default encoding if any are supported. So, the only cases where the 
+            // selectedEncoding can be null are:
+            //
+            // 1). No supported encodings - we assume this is a non-text format
+            // 2). Custom implementation of SelectCharacterEncoding - trust the user and give them what they want.
             var selectedEncoding = SelectCharacterEncoding(context);
-            if (selectedEncoding == null)
+            if (selectedEncoding != null)
             {
-                // No supported encoding was found so there is no way for us to start writing.
-                throw new InvalidOperationException(Resources.FormatOutputFormatterNoEncoding(GetType().FullName));
+                context.SelectedEncoding = selectedEncoding;
+
+                // Override the content type value even if one already existed.
+                selectedMediaType.Charset = selectedEncoding.WebName;
             }
 
-            context.SelectedEncoding = selectedEncoding;
-
-            // Override the content type value even if one already existed.
-            selectedMediaType.Charset = selectedEncoding.WebName;
-
             context.SelectedContentType = context.SelectedContentType ?? selectedMediaType;
+
             var response = context.HttpContext.Response;
             response.ContentType = selectedMediaType.ToString();
         }
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
index ca87ea3fb5..ca9ccc6dd3 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Properties/Resources.Designer.cs
@@ -362,22 +362,6 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core
             return string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, GetString("TypeMustDeriveFromType"), p0, p1);
         }
 
-        /// <summary>
-        /// No encoding found for output formatter '{0}'. There must be at least one supported encoding registered in order for the output formatter to write content.
-        /// </summary>
-        internal static string OutputFormatterNoEncoding
-        {
-            get { return GetString("OutputFormatterNoEncoding"); }
-        }
-
-        /// <summary>
-        /// No encoding found for output formatter '{0}'. There must be at least one supported encoding registered in order for the output formatter to write content.
-        /// </summary>
-        internal static string FormatOutputFormatterNoEncoding(object p0)
-        {
-            return string.Format(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture, GetString("OutputFormatterNoEncoding"), p0);
-        }
-
         /// <summary>
         /// No encoding found for input formatter '{0}'. There must be at least one supported encoding registered in order for the formatter to read content.
         /// </summary>
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Resources.resx b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Resources.resx
index c5cbbd164c..bb5aa0eaa8 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Resources.resx
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/Resources.resx
@@ -183,9 +183,6 @@
   <data name="TypeMustDeriveFromType" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>The type '{0}' must derive from '{1}'.</value>
   </data>
-  <data name="OutputFormatterNoEncoding" xml:space="preserve">
-    <value>No encoding found for output formatter '{0}'. There must be at least one supported encoding registered in order for the output formatter to write content.</value>
-  </data>
   <data name="InputFormatterNoEncoding" xml:space="preserve">
     <value>No encoding found for input formatter '{0}'. There must be at least one supported encoding registered in order for the formatter to read content.</value>
   </data>
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core.Test/OutputFormatterTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core.Test/OutputFormatterTests.cs
index a398cd43ff..71abc7d07f 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core.Test/OutputFormatterTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core.Test/OutputFormatterTests.cs
@@ -76,24 +76,31 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Test
         }
 
         [Fact]
-        public void WriteResponseContentHeaders_FormatterWithNoEncoding_Throws()
+        public void WriteResponseContentHeaders_NoSupportedEncodings_NoEncodingIsSet()
         {
             // Arrange
-            var testFormatter = new TestOutputFormatter();
-            var testContentType = MediaTypeHeaderValue.Parse("text/invalid");
-            var formatterContext = new OutputFormatterContext();
-            var mockHttpContext = new Mock<HttpContext>();
-            var httpRequest = new DefaultHttpContext().Request;
-            mockHttpContext.SetupGet(o => o.Request).Returns(httpRequest);
-            formatterContext.HttpContext = mockHttpContext.Object;
+            var formatter = new TestOutputFormatter();
 
-            // Act & Assert
-            var ex = Assert.Throws<InvalidOperationException>(
-                        () => testFormatter.WriteResponseHeaders(formatterContext));
-            Assert.Equal("No encoding found for output formatter " +
-                         "'Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Test.OutputFormatterTests+TestOutputFormatter'." +
-                         " There must be at least one supported encoding registered in order for the" +
-                         " output formatter to write content.", ex.Message);
+            var testContentType = MediaTypeHeaderValue.Parse("text/json");
+
+            formatter.SupportedEncodings.Clear();
+            formatter.SupportedMediaTypes.Clear();
+            formatter.SupportedMediaTypes.Add(testContentType);
+
+            var formatterContext = new OutputFormatterContext()
+            {
+                HttpContext = new DefaultHttpContext(),
+            };
+
+            // Act
+            formatter.WriteResponseHeaders(formatterContext);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Null(formatterContext.SelectedEncoding);
+            Assert.Equal(testContentType, formatterContext.SelectedContentType);
+
+            // If we had set an encoding, it would be part of the content type header
+            Assert.Equal(testContentType, formatterContext.HttpContext.Response.GetTypedHeaders().ContentType);
         }
 
         [Fact]