diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 6821b2d496c..3172bb5e4e5 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -105,6 +105,9 @@ Release 2.5.0 - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-5895. Close streams properly to avoid leakage in TaskLog. 
     (Kousuke Saruta via devaraj)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5777. Support utf-8 text with Byte Order Marker.
+    (Zhihai Xu via kasha)
+
 Release 2.4.1 - UNRELEASED
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/pom.xml b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/pom.xml
index dee85976fa1..adb983a867a 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/pom.xml
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@
         <configuration>
           <excludes>
             <exclude>src/test/resources/recordSpanningMultipleSplits.txt</exclude>
+            <exclude>src/test/resources/testBOM.txt</exclude>
           </excludes>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LineRecordReader.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LineRecordReader.java
index 8b26fbd16d8..6b5c26ee47b 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LineRecordReader.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/LineRecordReader.java
@@ -197,6 +197,39 @@ public class LineRecordReader implements RecordReader<LongWritable, Text> {
     return retVal;
   }
 
+  private int skipUtfByteOrderMark(Text value) throws IOException {
+    // Strip BOM(Byte Order Mark)
+    // Text only support UTF-8, we only need to check UTF-8 BOM
+    // (0xEF,0xBB,0xBF) at the start of the text stream.
+    int newMaxLineLength = (int) Math.min(3L + (long) maxLineLength,
+        Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+    int newSize = in.readLine(value, newMaxLineLength, maxBytesToConsume(pos));
+    // Even we read 3 extra bytes for the first line,
+    // we won't alter existing behavior (no backwards incompat issue).
+    // Because the newSize is less than maxLineLength and
+    // the number of bytes copied to Text is always no more than newSize.
+    // If the return size from readLine is not less than maxLineLength,
+    // we will discard the current line and read the next line.
+    pos += newSize;
+    int textLength = value.getLength();
+    byte[] textBytes = value.getBytes();
+    if ((textLength >= 3) && (textBytes[0] == (byte)0xEF) &&
+        (textBytes[1] == (byte)0xBB) && (textBytes[2] == (byte)0xBF)) {
+      // find UTF-8 BOM, strip it.
+      LOG.info("Found UTF-8 BOM and skipped it");
+      textLength -= 3;
+      newSize -= 3;
+      if (textLength > 0) {
+        // It may work to use the same buffer and not do the copyBytes
+        textBytes = value.copyBytes();
+        value.set(textBytes, 3, textLength);
+      } else {
+        value.clear();
+      }
+    }
+    return newSize;
+  }
+
   /** Read a line. */
   public synchronized boolean next(LongWritable key, Text value)
     throws IOException {
@@ -206,11 +239,17 @@ public class LineRecordReader implements RecordReader<LongWritable, Text> {
     while (getFilePosition() <= end || in.needAdditionalRecordAfterSplit()) {
       key.set(pos);
 
-      int newSize = in.readLine(value, maxLineLength, maxBytesToConsume(pos));
+      int newSize = 0;
+      if (pos == 0) {
+        newSize = skipUtfByteOrderMark(value);
+      } else {
+        newSize = in.readLine(value, maxLineLength, maxBytesToConsume(pos));
+        pos += newSize;
+      }
+
       if (newSize == 0) {
         return false;
       }
-      pos += newSize;
       if (newSize < maxLineLength) {
         return true;
       }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/LineRecordReader.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/LineRecordReader.java
index 6d12d82d177..880a1a21949 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/LineRecordReader.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/LineRecordReader.java
@@ -134,6 +134,39 @@ public class LineRecordReader extends RecordReader<LongWritable, Text> {
     return retVal;
   }
 
+  private int skipUtfByteOrderMark() throws IOException {
+    // Strip BOM(Byte Order Mark)
+    // Text only support UTF-8, we only need to check UTF-8 BOM
+    // (0xEF,0xBB,0xBF) at the start of the text stream.
+    int newMaxLineLength = (int) Math.min(3L + (long) maxLineLength,
+        Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+    int newSize = in.readLine(value, newMaxLineLength, maxBytesToConsume(pos));
+    // Even we read 3 extra bytes for the first line,
+    // we won't alter existing behavior (no backwards incompat issue).
+    // Because the newSize is less than maxLineLength and
+    // the number of bytes copied to Text is always no more than newSize.
+    // If the return size from readLine is not less than maxLineLength,
+    // we will discard the current line and read the next line.
+    pos += newSize;
+    int textLength = value.getLength();
+    byte[] textBytes = value.getBytes();
+    if ((textLength >= 3) && (textBytes[0] == (byte)0xEF) &&
+        (textBytes[1] == (byte)0xBB) && (textBytes[2] == (byte)0xBF)) {
+      // find UTF-8 BOM, strip it.
+      LOG.info("Found UTF-8 BOM and skipped it");
+      textLength -= 3;
+      newSize -= 3;
+      if (textLength > 0) {
+        // It may work to use the same buffer and not do the copyBytes
+        textBytes = value.copyBytes();
+        value.set(textBytes, 3, textLength);
+      } else {
+        value.clear();
+      }
+    }
+    return newSize;
+  }
+
   public boolean nextKeyValue() throws IOException {
     if (key == null) {
       key = new LongWritable();
@@ -146,9 +179,14 @@ public class LineRecordReader extends RecordReader<LongWritable, Text> {
     // We always read one extra line, which lies outside the upper
     // split limit i.e. (end - 1)
     while (getFilePosition() <= end || in.needAdditionalRecordAfterSplit()) {
-      newSize = in.readLine(value, maxLineLength, maxBytesToConsume(pos));
-      pos += newSize;
-      if (newSize < maxLineLength) {
+      if (pos == 0) {
+        newSize = skipUtfByteOrderMark();
+      } else {
+        newSize = in.readLine(value, maxLineLength, maxBytesToConsume(pos));
+        pos += newSize;
+      }
+
+      if ((newSize == 0) || (newSize < maxLineLength)) {
         break;
       }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestLineRecordReader.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestLineRecordReader.java
index ee066e218f1..7b664e93ace 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestLineRecordReader.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestLineRecordReader.java
@@ -188,4 +188,41 @@ public class TestLineRecordReader {
     checkRecordSpanningMultipleSplits("recordSpanningMultipleSplits.txt.bz2",
         200 * 1000, true);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testStripBOM() throws IOException {
+    // the test data contains a BOM at the start of the file
+    // confirm the BOM is skipped by LineRecordReader
+    String UTF8_BOM = "\uFEFF";
+    URL testFileUrl = getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("testBOM.txt");
+    assertNotNull("Cannot find testBOM.txt", testFileUrl);
+    File testFile = new File(testFileUrl.getFile());
+    Path testFilePath = new Path(testFile.getAbsolutePath());
+    long testFileSize = testFile.length();
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    conf.setInt(org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.input.
+        LineRecordReader.MAX_LINE_LENGTH, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+
+    // read the data and check whether BOM is skipped
+    FileSplit split = new FileSplit(testFilePath, 0, testFileSize,
+        (String[])null);
+    LineRecordReader reader = new LineRecordReader(conf, split);
+    LongWritable key = new LongWritable();
+    Text value = new Text();
+    int numRecords = 0;
+    boolean firstLine = true;
+    boolean skipBOM = true;
+    while (reader.next(key, value)) {
+      if (firstLine) {
+        firstLine = false;
+        if (value.toString().startsWith(UTF8_BOM)) {
+          skipBOM = false;
+        }
+      }
+      ++numRecords;
+    }
+    reader.close();
+
+    assertTrue("BOM is not skipped", skipBOM);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/TestLineRecordReader.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/TestLineRecordReader.java
index 46091850ead..a1b5147c0c6 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/TestLineRecordReader.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/input/TestLineRecordReader.java
@@ -193,4 +193,42 @@ public class TestLineRecordReader {
                                       200 * 1000,
                                       true);
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testStripBOM() throws IOException {
+    // the test data contains a BOM at the start of the file
+    // confirm the BOM is skipped by LineRecordReader
+    String UTF8_BOM = "\uFEFF";
+    URL testFileUrl = getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("testBOM.txt");
+    assertNotNull("Cannot find testBOM.txt", testFileUrl);
+    File testFile = new File(testFileUrl.getFile());
+    Path testFilePath = new Path(testFile.getAbsolutePath());
+    long testFileSize = testFile.length();
+    Configuration conf = new Configuration();
+    conf.setInt(org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.input.
+        LineRecordReader.MAX_LINE_LENGTH, Integer.MAX_VALUE);
+
+    TaskAttemptContext context = new TaskAttemptContextImpl(conf, new TaskAttemptID());
+
+    // read the data and check whether BOM is skipped
+    FileSplit split = new FileSplit(testFilePath, 0, testFileSize,
+        (String[])null);
+    LineRecordReader reader = new LineRecordReader();
+    reader.initialize(split, context);
+    int numRecords = 0;
+    boolean firstLine = true;
+    boolean skipBOM = true;
+    while (reader.nextKeyValue()) {
+      if (firstLine) {
+        firstLine = false;
+        if (reader.getCurrentValue().toString().startsWith(UTF8_BOM)) {
+          skipBOM = false;
+        }
+      }
+      ++numRecords;
+    }
+    reader.close();
+
+    assertTrue("BOM is not skipped", skipBOM);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/resources/testBOM.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/resources/testBOM.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..561f4549873
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/resources/testBOM.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+BOM(Byte Order Mark) test file
+BOM(Byte Order Mark) test file
\ No newline at end of file