diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/AbstractFieldMapper.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/AbstractFieldMapper.java
index 6e545a88479..d35d2239cb0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/AbstractFieldMapper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/core/AbstractFieldMapper.java
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.Nullable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.ImmutableOpenMap;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.BytesRefs;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.Lucene;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.search.MatchNoDocsFilter;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.search.RegexpFilter;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -496,11 +497,23 @@ public abstract class AbstractFieldMapper<T> implements FieldMapper<T> {
 
     @Override
     public Filter termsFilter(List values, @Nullable QueryParseContext context) {
-        BytesRef[] bytesRefs = new BytesRef[values.size()];
-        for (int i = 0; i < bytesRefs.length; i++) {
-            bytesRefs[i] = indexedValueForSearch(values.get(i));
+        switch (values.size()) {
+        case 0:
+            return new MatchNoDocsFilter();
+        case 1:
+            // When there is a single term, it's important to return a term filter so that
+            // it can return a DocIdSet that is directly backed by a postings list, instead
+            // of loading everything into a bit set and returning an iterator based on the
+            // bit set
+            return termFilter(values.get(0), context);
+        default:
+            BytesRef[] bytesRefs = new BytesRef[values.size()];
+            for (int i = 0; i < bytesRefs.length; i++) {
+                bytesRefs[i] = indexedValueForSearch(values.get(i));
+            }
+            return new TermsFilter(names.indexName(), bytesRefs);
+            
         }
-        return new TermsFilter(names.indexName(), bytesRefs);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java
index e015a71012c..f52d0d2e322 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/mapper/string/SimpleStringMappingTests.java
@@ -20,10 +20,15 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.string;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+
 import org.apache.lucene.index.DocValuesType;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexOptions;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexableField;
 import org.apache.lucene.index.IndexableFieldType;
+import org.apache.lucene.index.Term;
+import org.apache.lucene.queries.TermFilter;
+import org.apache.lucene.queries.TermsFilter;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.lucene.search.Queries;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.ToXContent;
@@ -41,6 +46,7 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
 
@@ -374,4 +380,18 @@ public class SimpleStringMappingTests extends ElasticsearchSingleNodeTest {
         assertTrue(mergeResult.conflicts()[0].contains("cannot enable norms"));
     }
 
+    public void testTermsFilter() throws Exception {
+        String mapping = XContentFactory.jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("type")
+                .startObject("properties").startObject("field").field("type", "string").field("index", "not_analyzed").endObject().endObject()
+                .endObject().endObject().string();
+
+        DocumentMapper defaultMapper = parser.parse(mapping);
+        FieldMapper<?> mapper = defaultMapper.mappers().fullName("field").mapper();
+        assertNotNull(mapper);
+        assertTrue(mapper instanceof StringFieldMapper);
+        assertEquals(Queries.MATCH_NO_FILTER, mapper.termsFilter(Collections.emptyList(), null));
+        assertEquals(new TermFilter(new Term("field", "value")), mapper.termsFilter(Collections.singletonList("value"), null));
+        assertEquals(new TermsFilter(new Term("field", "value1"), new Term("field", "value2")), mapper.termsFilter(Arrays.asList("value1", "value2"), null));
+    }
+
 }