diff --git a/django/http/multipartparser.py b/django/http/multipartparser.py
index e45d5d1035..ae143f79ed 100644
--- a/django/http/multipartparser.py
+++ b/django/http/multipartparser.py
@@ -145,6 +145,8 @@ class MultiPartParser(object):
                     continue
 
                 transfer_encoding = meta_data.get('content-transfer-encoding')
+                if transfer_encoding is not None:
+                    transfer_encoding = transfer_encoding[0].strip()
                 field_name = force_unicode(field_name, encoding, errors='replace')
 
                 if item_type == FIELD:
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/tests.py
index 5da0a5fafc..3c126b7d0f 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/tests.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 #! -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
+import base64
 import errno
 import hashlib
 import os
@@ -56,6 +57,30 @@ class FileUploadTests(TestCase):
 
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
 
+    def test_base64_upload(self):
+        test_string = "This data will be transmitted base64-encoded."
+        payload = "\r\n".join([
+            '--' + client.BOUNDARY,
+            'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="test.txt"',
+            'Content-Type: application/octet-stream',
+            'Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64',
+            '',
+            base64.b64encode(test_string),
+            '--' + client.BOUNDARY + '--',
+            '',
+        ])
+        r = {
+            'CONTENT_LENGTH': len(payload),
+            'CONTENT_TYPE':   client.MULTIPART_CONTENT,
+            'PATH_INFO':      "/file_uploads/echo_content/",
+            'REQUEST_METHOD': 'POST',
+            'wsgi.input':     client.FakePayload(payload),
+        }
+        response = self.client.request(**r)
+        received = simplejson.loads(response.content)
+
+        self.assertEqual(received['file'], test_string)
+
     def test_unicode_file_name(self):
         tdir = tempfile.gettempdir()
 
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/urls.py b/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/urls.py
index 413080eb4f..9f814c4d4c 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/urls.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/urls.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ urlpatterns = patterns('',
     (r'^verify/$',          views.file_upload_view_verify),
     (r'^unicode_name/$',    views.file_upload_unicode_name),
     (r'^echo/$',            views.file_upload_echo),
+    (r'^echo_content/$',    views.file_upload_echo_content),
     (r'^quota/$',           views.file_upload_quota),
     (r'^quota/broken/$',    views.file_upload_quota_broken),
     (r'^getlist_count/$',   views.file_upload_getlist_count),
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/views.py b/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/views.py
index 0fd0b6502d..dba7522bae 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/views.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/file_uploads/views.py
@@ -85,6 +85,13 @@ def file_upload_echo(request):
     r = dict([(k, f.name) for k, f in request.FILES.items()])
     return HttpResponse(simplejson.dumps(r))
 
+def file_upload_echo_content(request):
+    """
+    Simple view to echo back the content of uploaded files for tests.
+    """
+    r = dict([(k, f.read()) for k, f in request.FILES.items()])
+    return HttpResponse(simplejson.dumps(r))
+
 def file_upload_quota(request):
     """
     Dynamically add in an upload handler.