diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/Payload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/Payload.java
index 30d767152b..6d08ce7e23 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/Payload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/Payload.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package org.jclouds.io;
 
 import java.io.Closeable;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 
 import com.google.common.io.InputSupplier;
 
@@ -29,6 +30,14 @@ public interface Payload extends InputSupplier<InputStream>, WriteTo, Closeable
    /**
     * Creates a new InputStream object of the payload.
     */
+   InputStream openStream() throws IOException;
+
+   /**
+    * Creates a new InputStream object of the payload.
+    *
+    * @deprecated see openStream
+    */
+   @Deprecated
    InputStream getInput();
 
    /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BaseCipherPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BaseCipherPayload.java
index d802cec08e..b1bd930c01 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BaseCipherPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BaseCipherPayload.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public abstract class BaseCipherPayload extends DelegatingPayload {
    public abstract Cipher initializeCipher(Key key);
 
    @Override
-   public CipherInputStream getInput() {
+   public CipherInputStream openStream() {
       return new CipherInputStream(super.getInput(), initializeCipher(key));
    }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BasePayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BasePayload.java
index dff38205a1..6fdd8e51ed 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BasePayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/BasePayload.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
+
 import org.jclouds.io.MutableContentMetadata;
 import org.jclouds.io.Payload;
 
@@ -45,6 +47,15 @@ public abstract class BasePayload<V> implements Payload {
       this.contentMetadata = checkNotNull(contentMetadata, "contentMetadata");
    }
 
+   @Override
+   public InputStream getInput() {
+      try {
+         return openStream();
+      } catch (IOException ioe) {
+         throw Throwables.propagate(ioe);
+      }
+   }
+
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/ByteArrayPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/ByteArrayPayload.java
index 539fcde4b5..68aeaf78e9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/ByteArrayPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/ByteArrayPayload.java
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public class ByteArrayPayload extends BasePayload<byte[]> {
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
+   public InputStream openStream() {
       return new ByteArrayInputStream(content);
    }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/DelegatingPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/DelegatingPayload.java
index ef5cc9dedd..452441110b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/DelegatingPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/DelegatingPayload.java
@@ -37,6 +37,14 @@ public class DelegatingPayload implements Payload {
       this.delegate = checkNotNull(delegate, "delegate");
    }
 
+   /**
+    * {@inheritDoc}
+    */
+   @Override
+   public InputStream openStream() throws IOException {
+      return delegate.openStream();
+   }
+
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/FilePayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/FilePayload.java
index 338a6e7a58..430f5d8529 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/FilePayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/FilePayload.java
@@ -20,10 +20,9 @@ import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
-import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
 
 /**
  * @author Adrian Cole
@@ -40,12 +39,8 @@ public class FilePayload extends BasePayload<File> {
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
-      try {
-         return new FileInputStream(content);
-      } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
-         throw Throwables.propagate(e);
-      }
+   public InputStream openStream() throws IOException {
+      return new FileInputStream(content);
    }
 
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamPayload.java
index 450a6cbb90..22a17521fa 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamPayload.java
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ public class InputStreamPayload extends BasePayload<InputStream> {
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
+   public InputStream openStream() {
       return content;
    }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamSupplierPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamSupplierPayload.java
index bd94cd3d4e..54f0123be7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamSupplierPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/InputStreamSupplierPayload.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
 import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
 import com.google.common.io.InputSupplier;
 
@@ -40,14 +39,10 @@ public class InputStreamSupplierPayload extends BasePayload<InputSupplier<? exte
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
-      try {
-         InputStream returnVal = content.getInput();
-         toClose.add(returnVal);
-         return returnVal;
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-         throw Throwables.propagate(e);
-      }
+   public InputStream openStream() throws IOException {
+      InputStream returnVal = content.getInput();
+      toClose.add(returnVal);
+      return returnVal;
    }
 
    /**
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/MultipartForm.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/MultipartForm.java
index 655ca3cbde..8ae44dd853 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/MultipartForm.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/MultipartForm.java
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
  */
 package org.jclouds.io.payloads;
 
-import static com.google.common.base.Throwables.propagate;
 import static com.google.common.collect.Lists.newArrayList;
 import static com.google.common.io.ByteStreams.join;
 import static com.google.common.io.ByteStreams.newInputStreamSupplier;
@@ -89,13 +88,8 @@ public class MultipartForm extends BasePayload<Iterable<? extends Part>> {
    }
 
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
-      try {
-         return chain.getInput();
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-         propagate(e);
-         return null;
-      }
+   public InputStream openStream() throws IOException {
+      return chain.getInput();
    }
 
    @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/PhantomPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/PhantomPayload.java
index 2824d5322b..4023ee1083 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/PhantomPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/PhantomPayload.java
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ public class PhantomPayload extends BasePayload<Object> {
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
+   public InputStream openStream() {
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StreamingPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StreamingPayload.java
index ef34b69b66..2343091288 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StreamingPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StreamingPayload.java
@@ -56,6 +56,15 @@ public class StreamingPayload implements Payload {
       throw new UnsupportedOperationException("this payload is for streaming writes only");
    }
 
+   /**
+    * @throws UnsupportedOperationException
+    *            this payload is for streaming writes only
+    */
+   @Override
+   public InputStream openStream() {
+      throw new UnsupportedOperationException("this payload is for streaming writes only");
+   }
+
    /**
     * @throws UnsupportedOperationException
     *            this payload is for streaming writes only
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StringPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StringPayload.java
index da1566f8cf..2452a944b9 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StringPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/StringPayload.java
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ public class StringPayload extends BasePayload<String> {
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
+   public InputStream openStream() {
       return new ByteArrayInputStream(bytes);
    }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/UrlEncodedFormPayload.java b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/UrlEncodedFormPayload.java
index 8cbfccae01..fa906dfe2b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/UrlEncodedFormPayload.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/jclouds/io/payloads/UrlEncodedFormPayload.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public class UrlEncodedFormPayload extends BasePayload<String> {
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
-   public InputStream getInput() {
+   public InputStream openStream() {
       return toInputStream(content);
    }
 
diff --git a/drivers/apachehc/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/apachehc/ApacheHCUtils.java b/drivers/apachehc/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/apachehc/ApacheHCUtils.java
index 5d86df6fe4..47d790318d 100644
--- a/drivers/apachehc/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/apachehc/ApacheHCUtils.java
+++ b/drivers/apachehc/src/main/java/org/jclouds/http/apachehc/ApacheHCUtils.java
@@ -178,15 +178,12 @@ public class ApacheHCUtils {
       }
 
       @Override
-      public InputStream getInput() {
+      public InputStream openStream() throws IOException {
          try {
             return content.getContent();
          } catch (IllegalStateException e) {
-            Throwables.propagate(e);
-         } catch (IOException e) {
-            Throwables.propagate(e);
+            throw Throwables.propagate(e);
          }
-         return null;
       }
 
       @Override