diff --git a/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayload.java b/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayload.java
index d40e642516..656cdfde10 100644
--- a/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayload.java
+++ b/rackspace/src/main/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayload.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkArgument;
 
 import javax.inject.Inject;
 import javax.inject.Singleton;
+import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
 
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.binders.BindUserMetadataToHeadersWithPrefix;
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpRequest;
@@ -44,6 +45,8 @@ public class BindCFObjectToPayload implements Binder {
 
    public void bindToRequest(HttpRequest request, Object payload) {
       CFObject object = (CFObject) payload;
+      if (object.getPayload().getContentType() == null)
+         object.getPayload().setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
       if (object.getPayload().getContentLength() != null
                && object.getPayload().getContentLength() >= 0) {
          checkArgument(object.getPayload().getContentLength() <= 5l * 1024 * 1024 * 1024,
diff --git a/rackspace/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayloadTest.java b/rackspace/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayloadTest.java
index d8e2fb94df..d2676178cd 100644
--- a/rackspace/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayloadTest.java
+++ b/rackspace/src/test/java/org/jclouds/rackspace/cloudfiles/binders/BindCFObjectToPayloadTest.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import static org.easymock.classextension.EasyMock.createMock;
 import static org.easymock.classextension.EasyMock.replay;
 import static org.easymock.classextension.EasyMock.verify;
 
+import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType;
+
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.binders.BindUserMetadataToHeadersWithPrefix;
 import org.jclouds.blobstore.domain.Blob;
 import org.jclouds.http.HttpRequest;
@@ -53,6 +55,8 @@ public class BindCFObjectToPayloadTest {
       MutableObjectInfoWithMetadata md = createMock(MutableObjectInfoWithMetadata.class);
 
       expect(object.getPayload()).andReturn(payload).atLeastOnce();
+      expect(payload.getContentType()).andReturn(null).atLeastOnce();
+      payload.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
       expect(payload.getContentLength()).andReturn(5368709120l).atLeastOnce();
       expect(object2Blob.apply(object)).andReturn(blob);
       mdBinder.bindToRequest(request, blob);
@@ -93,6 +97,8 @@ public class BindCFObjectToPayloadTest {
       Multimap<String, String> headers = createMock(Multimap.class);
 
       expect(object.getPayload()).andReturn(payload).atLeastOnce();
+      expect(payload.getContentType()).andReturn(null).atLeastOnce();
+      payload.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
       expect(payload.getContentLength()).andReturn(null).atLeastOnce();
       expect(object2Blob.apply(object)).andReturn(blob);
       mdBinder.bindToRequest(request, blob);
@@ -135,6 +141,8 @@ public class BindCFObjectToPayloadTest {
       MutableObjectInfoWithMetadata md = createMock(MutableObjectInfoWithMetadata.class);
 
       expect(object.getPayload()).andReturn(payload).atLeastOnce();
+      expect(payload.getContentType()).andReturn(null).atLeastOnce();
+      payload.setContentType(MediaType.APPLICATION_OCTET_STREAM);
       expect(payload.getContentLength()).andReturn(5368709121l).atLeastOnce();
       expect(object2Blob.apply(object)).andReturn(blob);
       mdBinder.bindToRequest(request, blob);