diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/ActionResults/ContentResult.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/ActionResults/ContentResult.cs
index 997a1dadc7..5a3dd9c21a 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/ActionResults/ContentResult.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core/ActionResults/ContentResult.cs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.Http;
+using Microsoft.Net.Http.Headers;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc
 {
@@ -19,14 +20,22 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc
         {
             var response = context.HttpContext.Response;
 
-            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(ContentType))
+            MediaTypeHeaderValue contentTypeHeader;
+            if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(ContentType))
             {
-                response.ContentType = ContentType;
+                contentTypeHeader = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("text/plain");
             }
+            else
+            {
+                contentTypeHeader = new MediaTypeHeaderValue(ContentType);
+            }
+
+            contentTypeHeader.Encoding = ContentEncoding ?? Encodings.UTF8EncodingWithoutBOM;
+            response.ContentType = contentTypeHeader.ToString();
 
             if (Content != null)
             {
-                await response.WriteAsync(Content);
+                await response.WriteAsync(Content, contentTypeHeader.Encoding);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core.Test/ActionResults/ContentResultTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core.Test/ActionResults/ContentResultTest.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84920b5170
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Core.Test/ActionResults/ContentResultTest.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Open Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
+
+using System;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using Microsoft.AspNet.Http;
+using Microsoft.AspNet.Http.Core;
+using Microsoft.AspNet.Routing;
+using Moq;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc
+{
+    public class ContentResultTest
+    {
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_Response_NullEncoding_SetsContentTypeAndDefaultEncoding()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var contentResult = new ContentResult
+            {
+                Content = "Test Content",
+                ContentType = "application/json",
+                ContentEncoding = null
+            };
+            var httpContext = GetHttpContext();
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(httpContext);
+
+            // Act
+            await contentResult.ExecuteResultAsync(actionContext);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal("application/json; charset=utf-8", httpContext.Response.ContentType);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_Response_SetsContentTypeAndEncoding()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var contentResult = new ContentResult
+            {
+                Content = "Test Content",
+                ContentType = "text/plain",
+                ContentEncoding = Encoding.ASCII
+            };
+            var httpContext = GetHttpContext();
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(httpContext);
+
+            // Act
+            await contentResult.ExecuteResultAsync(actionContext);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal("text/plain; charset=us-ascii", httpContext.Response.ContentType);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_Response_NullContentType_SetsEncodingAndDefaultContentType()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var contentResult = new ContentResult
+            {
+                Content = "Test Content",
+                ContentType = null,
+                ContentEncoding = Encoding.UTF7
+            };
+            var httpContext = GetHttpContext();
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(httpContext);
+
+            // Act
+            await contentResult.ExecuteResultAsync(actionContext);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal("text/plain; charset=utf-7", httpContext.Response.ContentType);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_Response_NullContent_SetsContentTypeAndEncoding()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var contentResult = new ContentResult
+            {
+                Content = null,
+                ContentType = "application/json",
+                ContentEncoding = Encoding.UTF8
+            };
+            var httpContext = GetHttpContext();
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(httpContext);
+
+            // Act
+            await contentResult.ExecuteResultAsync(actionContext);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal("application/json; charset=utf-8", httpContext.Response.ContentType);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_Response_BadContentType_ThrowsFormatException()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var contentResult = new ContentResult
+            {
+                Content = "Test Content",
+                ContentType = "some-type",
+                ContentEncoding = null
+            };
+            var httpContext = GetHttpContext();
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(httpContext);
+
+            // Act
+            var exception = await Assert.ThrowsAsync<FormatException>(
+                        async () => await contentResult.ExecuteResultAsync(actionContext));
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal("Invalid media type 'some-type'.", exception.Message);
+        }
+
+        private static ActionContext GetActionContext(HttpContext httpContext)
+        {
+            var routeData = new RouteData();
+            routeData.Routers.Add(Mock.Of<IRouter>());
+
+            return new ActionContext(httpContext,
+                                    routeData,
+                                    new ActionDescriptor());
+        }
+
+        private static HttpContext GetHttpContext()
+        {
+            return new DefaultHttpContext();
+        }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.FunctionalTests/ActionResultTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.FunctionalTests/ActionResultTests.cs
index 7ff7a5170a..48e9b244c4 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.FunctionalTests/ActionResultTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.FunctionalTests/ActionResultTests.cs
@@ -279,5 +279,65 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.FunctionalTests
                 responseContent);
             Assert.Equal(sampleStringError, errors["test.SampleString"]);
         }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_WritesContent_SetsDefaultContentTypeAndEncoding()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var server = TestServer.Create(_provider, _app);
+            var client = server.CreateClient();
+            var request = new HttpRequestMessage(
+                            HttpMethod.Post,
+                            "http://localhost/ActionResultsVerification/GetContentResult");
+
+            // Act
+            var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, response.StatusCode);
+            Assert.Equal("content", await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
+            Assert.Equal("text/plain", response.Content.Headers.ContentType.MediaType);
+            Assert.Equal("utf-8", response.Content.Headers.ContentType.CharSet);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_WritesContent_SetsContentTypeWithDefaultEncoding()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var server = TestServer.Create(_provider, _app);
+            var client = server.CreateClient();
+            var request = new HttpRequestMessage(
+                            HttpMethod.Post,
+                            "http://localhost/ActionResultsVerification/GetContentResultWithContentType");
+
+            // Act
+            var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, response.StatusCode);
+            Assert.Equal("application/json", response.Content.Headers.ContentType.MediaType);
+            Assert.Equal("utf-8", response.Content.Headers.ContentType.CharSet);
+            Assert.Equal("content", await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ContentResult_WritesContent_SetsContentTypeAndEncoding()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var server = TestServer.Create(_provider, _app);
+            var client = server.CreateClient();
+            var request = new HttpRequestMessage(
+                            HttpMethod.Post,
+                            "http://localhost/ActionResultsVerification/GetContentResultWithContentTypeAndEncoding");
+
+            // Act
+            var response = await client.SendAsync(request);
+
+            // Assert
+            Assert.Equal(HttpStatusCode.OK, response.StatusCode);
+            Assert.Equal("application/json", response.Content.Headers.ContentType.MediaType);
+            Assert.Equal("us-ascii", response.Content.Headers.ContentType.CharSet);
+            Assert.Equal("content", await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync());
+        }
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/WebSites/ActionResultsWebSite/Controllers/ActionResultsVerificationController.cs b/test/WebSites/ActionResultsWebSite/Controllers/ActionResultsVerificationController.cs
index bffd5cd400..1073799b7c 100644
--- a/test/WebSites/ActionResultsWebSite/Controllers/ActionResultsVerificationController.cs
+++ b/test/WebSites/ActionResultsWebSite/Controllers/ActionResultsVerificationController.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 // Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
 
 using System;
+using System.Text;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc;
 
 namespace ActionResultsWebSite
@@ -61,6 +62,21 @@ namespace ActionResultsWebSite
             return CreatedAtRoute("custom-route", values, CreateDummy());
         }
 
+        public IActionResult GetContentResult()
+        {
+            return Content("content");
+        }
+
+        public IActionResult GetContentResultWithContentType()
+        {
+            return Content("content", "application/json");
+        }
+
+        public IActionResult GetContentResultWithContentTypeAndEncoding()
+        {
+            return Content("content", "application/json", Encoding.ASCII);
+        }
+
         public DummyClass GetDummy(int id)
         {
             return CreateDummy();