diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitContentRevision.java b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitContentRevision.java
index 223b583e3830..4338622da081 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitContentRevision.java
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitContentRevision.java
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.changes.CurrentContentRevision;
 import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.history.VcsRevisionNumber;
 import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VirtualFile;
 import com.intellij.vcsUtil.VcsUtil;
+import git4idea.commands.GitBinaryHandler;
 import git4idea.commands.GitCommand;
-import git4idea.commands.GitSimpleHandler;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 
@@ -69,12 +69,13 @@ public class GitContentRevision implements ContentRevision {
       return null;
     }
     VirtualFile root = GitUtil.getGitRoot(myFile);
-    GitSimpleHandler h = new GitSimpleHandler(myProject, root, GitCommand.SHOW);
+    GitBinaryHandler h = new GitBinaryHandler(myProject, root, GitCommand.SHOW);
     h.setCharset(myCharset);
     h.setNoSSH(true);
     h.setSilent(true);
     h.addParameters(myRevision.getRev() + ":" + GitUtil.relativePath(root, myFile));
-    return h.run();
+    byte[] result = h.run();
+    return new String(result, h.getCharset());
   }
 
   @NotNull
diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitFileRevision.java b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitFileRevision.java
index 81911bce43f9..137bed77cec9 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitFileRevision.java
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/GitFileRevision.java
@@ -21,13 +21,12 @@ import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.VcsException;
 import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.history.VcsFileRevision;
 import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.history.VcsRevisionNumber;
 import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VirtualFile;
+import git4idea.commands.GitBinaryHandler;
 import git4idea.commands.GitCommand;
-import git4idea.commands.GitSimpleHandler;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.Date;
 
@@ -94,18 +93,11 @@ public class GitFileRevision implements VcsFileRevision, Comparable<VcsFileRevis
 
   public synchronized void loadContent() throws VcsException {
     final VirtualFile root = GitUtil.getGitRoot(path);
-    GitSimpleHandler h = new GitSimpleHandler(project, root, GitCommand.SHOW);
+    GitBinaryHandler h = new GitBinaryHandler(project, root, GitCommand.SHOW);
     h.setNoSSH(true);
-    h.setCharset(BIN_ENCODING);
     h.setSilent(true);
     h.addParameters(revision.getRev() + ":" + GitUtil.relativePath(root, path));
-    String result = h.run();
-    try {
-      content = result.getBytes(BIN_ENCODING.name());
-    }
-    catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-      throw new VcsException("Unable to locate encoding: " + BIN_ENCODING.name() + " Reason: " + e.toString(), e);
-    }
+    content = h.run();
   }
 
   public synchronized byte[] getContent() throws IOException {
diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/commands/GitBinaryHandler.java b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/commands/GitBinaryHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a86dbc02ccad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/commands/GitBinaryHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,213 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2000-2010 JetBrains s.r.o.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package git4idea.commands;
+
+import com.intellij.openapi.diagnostic.Logger;
+import com.intellij.openapi.project.Project;
+import com.intellij.openapi.vcs.VcsException;
+import com.intellij.openapi.vfs.VirtualFile;
+import git4idea.GitUtil;
+import git4idea.GitVcs;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
+
+/**
+ * The handler that allows consuming binary data as byte array
+ */
+public class GitBinaryHandler extends GitHandler {
+  /**
+   * The logger
+   */
+  private static final Logger LOG = Logger.getInstance(GitBinaryHandler.class.getName());
+  /**
+   * Stdout stream
+   */
+  private final ByteArrayOutputStream myStdout = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+  /**
+   * Stderr stream
+   */
+  private final ByteArrayOutputStream myStderr = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+  /**
+   * The semaphore that waits for stream processing
+   */
+  private final Semaphore mySteamSemaphore = new Semaphore(0);
+  /**
+   * The size of buffer to use
+   */
+  private static final int BUFFER_SIZE = 8 * 1024;
+  /**
+   * The exception to use
+   */
+  private AtomicReference<VcsException> myException = new AtomicReference<VcsException>();
+
+  /**
+   * A constructor
+   *
+   * @param project   a project
+   * @param directory a process directory
+   * @param command   a command to execute (if empty string, the parameter is ignored)
+   */
+  protected GitBinaryHandler(@NotNull Project project, @NotNull File directory, @NotNull GitCommand command) {
+    super(project, directory, command);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * A constructor
+   *
+   * @param project a project
+   * @param vcsRoot a vcs root
+   * @param command a command to execute (if empty string, the parameter is ignored)
+   */
+  public GitBinaryHandler(final Project project, final VirtualFile vcsRoot, final GitCommand command) {
+    super(project, vcsRoot, command);
+  }
+
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritDoc}
+   */
+  @Override
+  protected void startHandlingStreams() {
+    handleStream(myProcess.getErrorStream(), myStderr);
+    handleStream(myProcess.getInputStream(), myStdout);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Handle the single stream
+   *
+   * @param in  the standard input
+   * @param out the standard output
+   */
+  private void handleStream(final InputStream in, final ByteArrayOutputStream out) {
+    Thread t = new Thread(new Runnable() {
+      @Override
+      public void run() {
+        try {
+          byte[] buffer = new byte[BUFFER_SIZE];
+          while (true) {
+            int rc = 0;
+            rc = in.read(buffer);
+            if (rc == -1) {
+              break;
+            }
+            out.write(buffer, 0, rc);
+          }
+        }
+        catch (IOException e) {
+          //noinspection ThrowableInstanceNeverThrown
+          if (!myException.compareAndSet(null, new VcsException("Stream IO problem", e))) {
+            LOG.error("Problem reading stream", e);
+          }
+        }
+        finally {
+          mySteamSemaphore.release(1);
+        }
+      }
+    }, "Stream copy thread");
+    t.setDaemon(true);
+    t.start();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritDoc}
+   */
+  @Override
+  protected void destroyProcess() {
+    myProcess.destroy();
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * {@inheritDoc}
+   */
+  @Override
+  protected void waitForProcess() {
+    try {
+      mySteamSemaphore.acquire(2);
+      myProcess.waitFor();
+      int exitCode = myProcess.exitValue();
+      setExitCode(exitCode);
+    }
+    catch (InterruptedException e) {
+      if (LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
+        LOG.debug("Ignoring process exception: ", e);
+      }
+      setExitCode(255);
+    }
+    listeners().processTerminated(getExitCode());
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Run in the current thread and return the data as array
+   *
+   * @return the binary data
+   * @throws VcsException in case of the problem with running git
+   */
+  public byte[] run() throws VcsException {
+    addListener(new GitHandlerListener() {
+      @Override
+      public void processTerminated(int exitCode) {
+        if (exitCode != 0 && !isIgnoredErrorCode(exitCode)) {
+          Charset cs = getCharset();
+          cs = cs == null ? GitUtil.UTF8_CHARSET : cs;
+          String message = new String(myStderr.toByteArray(), cs);
+          if (message.length() == 0) {
+            //noinspection ThrowableResultOfMethodCallIgnored
+            if (myException.get() != null) {
+              message = "Process finished with exit code " + exitCode;
+            }
+            else {
+              message = null;
+            }
+          }
+          else {
+            if (!isStderrSuppressed()) {
+              GitVcs.getInstance(myProject).showErrorMessages(message);
+            }
+          }
+          if (message != null) {
+            //noinspection ThrowableInstanceNeverThrown
+            VcsException e = myException.getAndSet(new VcsException(message));
+            if (e != null) {
+              LOG.warn("Dropping previous exception: ", e);
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+
+      @Override
+      public void startFailed(Throwable exception) {
+        //noinspection ThrowableInstanceNeverThrown
+        VcsException e = myException.getAndSet(new VcsException("Start failed: " + exception.getMessage(), exception));
+        if (e != null) {
+          LOG.warn("Dropping previous exception: ", e);
+        }
+      }
+    });
+    GitHandlerUtil.runInCurrentThread(this, null);
+    //noinspection ThrowableResultOfMethodCallIgnored
+    if (myException.get() != null) {
+      throw myException.get();
+    }
+    return myStdout.toByteArray();
+  }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/commands/GitHandler.java b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/commands/GitHandler.java
index 1fde79c006a9..3357e4dc4da8 100644
--- a/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/commands/GitHandler.java
+++ b/plugins/git4idea/src/git4idea/commands/GitHandler.java
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public abstract class GitHandler {
   /**
    * the context project (might be a default project)
    */
-  private final Project myProject;
+  final Project myProject;
   /**
    * The descriptor for the command to be executed
    */