diff --git a/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/blobstore/functions/ObjectToBlob.java b/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/blobstore/functions/ObjectToBlob.java
index 6de6528594..54a7563aa8 100644
--- a/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/blobstore/functions/ObjectToBlob.java
+++ b/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/blobstore/functions/ObjectToBlob.java
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ public class ObjectToBlob implements Function<CFObject, Blob> {
       Blob blob = blobFactory.create(object2BlobMd.apply(from.getInfo()));
       if (from.getContentLength() != null)
          blob.setContentLength(from.getContentLength());
-      blob.setPayload(from.getPayload());
+      if (from.getPayload() != null)
+         blob.setPayload(from.getPayload());
       blob.setAllHeaders(from.getAllHeaders());
       return blob;
    }