diff --git a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
index 87e491b59e0b5c2c2d9b334f8b9ad7a853b0915f..7548a21d352f0625a114f48c3063612f2a063436 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-format-patch.txt
@@ -156,6 +156,12 @@ want a filename like `0001-description-of-my-change.patch`, and
 the first letter does not have to be a dot.  Leaving it empty would
 not add any suffix.
 
+--no-binary::
+	Don't output contents of changes in binary files, just take note
+	that they differ.  Note that this disable the patch to be properly
+	applied.  By default the contents of changes in those files are
+	encoded in the patch.
+
 CONFIGURATION
 -------------
 You can specify extra mail header lines to be added to each message
diff --git a/builtin-log.c b/builtin-log.c
index 256bbac93a3927adfbd12b124f9c838a4101120d..80a01f8d44a40608e989b1cc1973a28c0b9040a5 100644
--- a/builtin-log.c
+++ b/builtin-log.c
@@ -757,6 +757,7 @@ int cmd_format_patch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	int thread = 0;
 	int cover_letter = 0;
 	int boundary_count = 0;
+	int no_binary_diff = 0;
 	struct commit *origin = NULL, *head = NULL;
 	const char *in_reply_to = NULL;
 	struct patch_ids ids;
@@ -862,6 +863,8 @@ int cmd_format_patch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			fmt_patch_suffix = argv[i] + 9;
 		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "--cover-letter"))
 			cover_letter = 1;
+		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "--no-binary"))
+			no_binary_diff = 1;
 		else
 			argv[j++] = argv[i];
 	}
@@ -914,7 +917,7 @@ int cmd_format_patch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (!rev.diffopt.output_format)
 		rev.diffopt.output_format = DIFF_FORMAT_DIFFSTAT | DIFF_FORMAT_SUMMARY | DIFF_FORMAT_PATCH;
 
-	if (!DIFF_OPT_TST(&rev.diffopt, TEXT))
+	if (!DIFF_OPT_TST(&rev.diffopt, TEXT) && !no_binary_diff)
 		DIFF_OPT_SET(&rev.diffopt, BINARY);
 
 	if (!output_directory && !use_stdout)