diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 4fb1e8d9bcf..dd64b02370e 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
     MAPREDUCE-4067. Changed MRClientProtocol api to throw IOException only (Xuan
     Gong via vinodkv)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-5234. Change mapred.TaskReport and mapreduce.TaskReport for binary
+    compatibility with mapred in 1.x but incompatible with 0.23.x. (Mayank Bansal
+    via vinodkv)
+
   NEW FEATURES
 
   IMPROVEMENTS
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TaskReport.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TaskReport.java
index 1aed3e0c225..8d2fe7fef64 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TaskReport.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TaskReport.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public TaskReport() {
   
   static TaskReport downgrade(
       org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskReport report) {
-    return new TaskReport(TaskID.downgrade(report.getTaskId()),
+    return new TaskReport(TaskID.downgrade(report.getTaskID()),
       report.getProgress(), report.getState(), report.getDiagnostics(),
       report.getCurrentStatus(), report.getStartTime(), report.getFinishTime(),
       Counters.downgrade(report.getTaskCounters()));
@@ -90,9 +90,16 @@ static TaskReport[] downgradeArray(org.apache.hadoop.
     return ret.toArray(new TaskReport[0]);
   }
   
+  /** The string of the task id. */
+  public String getTaskId() {
+    return TaskID.downgrade(super.getTaskID()).toString();
+  }
+
   /** The id of the task. */
-  public TaskID getTaskID() { return TaskID.downgrade(super.getTaskId()); }
-  
+  public TaskID getTaskID() {
+    return TaskID.downgrade(super.getTaskID());
+  }
+
   public Counters getCounters() { 
     return Counters.downgrade(super.getTaskCounters()); 
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/TaskReport.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/TaskReport.java
index d86d16ebfaf..9f00fee5f4e 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/TaskReport.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/TaskReport.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Writable;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.WritableUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TIPStatus;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskID;
 import org.apache.hadoop.util.StringInterner;
 
 /** A report on the state of a task. */
@@ -76,9 +77,16 @@ public TaskReport(TaskID taskid, float progress, String state,
     this.finishTime = finishTime;
     this.counters = counters;
   }
-    
-  /** The id of the task. */
-  public TaskID getTaskId() { return taskid; }
+
+  /** The string of the task ID. */
+  public String getTaskId() {
+    return taskid.toString();
+  }
+
+  /** The ID of the task. */
+  public TaskID getTaskID() {
+    return taskid;
+  }
 
   /** The amount completed, between zero and one. */
   public float getProgress() { return progress; }
@@ -171,7 +179,7 @@ public boolean equals(Object o) {
              && this.progress == report.getProgress()
              && this.startTime == report.getStartTime()
              && this.state.equals(report.getState())
-             && this.taskid.equals(report.getTaskId());
+             && this.taskid.equals(report.getTaskID());
     }
     return false; 
   }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInfo.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInfo.java
index 84c5850d179..507b9782fe0 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInfo.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/TestJobInfo.java
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.Text;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.JobID;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskID;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.TaskType;
+import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.JobStatus.State;
+import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
@@ -53,4 +58,20 @@ public void testJobInfo() throws IOException {
     assertEquals(info.getUser().toString(), copyinfo.getUser().toString());
 
   }
+  
+  @Test(timeout = 5000)
+  public void testTaskID() throws IOException, InterruptedException {
+    JobID jobid = new JobID("1014873536921", 6);
+    TaskID tid = new TaskID(jobid, TaskType.MAP, 0);
+    org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskID tid1 =
+        org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskID.downgrade(tid);
+    org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskReport treport =
+        new org.apache.hadoop.mapred.TaskReport(tid1, 0.0f,
+          State.FAILED.toString(), null, TIPStatus.FAILED, 100, 100,
+          new org.apache.hadoop.mapred.Counters());
+    Assert
+      .assertEquals(treport.getTaskId(), "task_1014873536921_0006_m_000000");
+    Assert.assertEquals(treport.getTaskID().toString(),
+      "task_1014873536921_0006_m_000000");
+  }
 }