diff --git a/src/Data/Text/IO.hs b/src/Data/Text/IO.hs
index ad8389d7..a4e5b2d2 100644
--- a/src/Data/Text/IO.hs
+++ b/src/Data/Text/IO.hs
@@ -13,8 +13,11 @@
 -- The functions in this module obey the runtime system's locale,
 -- character set encoding, and line ending conversion settings.
 --
+-- If you want to do I\/O using the UTF-8 encoding, use @Data.Text.IO.Utf8@,
+-- which is faster than this module.
+--
 -- If you know in advance that you will be working with data that has
--- a specific encoding (e.g. UTF-8), and your application is highly
+-- a specific encoding, and your application is highly
 -- performance sensitive, you may find that it is faster to perform
 -- I\/O with bytestrings and to encode and decode yourself than to use
 -- the functions in this module.
diff --git a/src/Data/Text/IO/Utf8.hs b/src/Data/Text/IO/Utf8.hs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2d0cd495
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Data/Text/IO/Utf8.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+-- |
+-- Module      : Data.Text.IO.Utf8
+-- License     : BSD-style
+-- Portability : GHC
+--
+-- Efficient UTF-8 support for text I\/O.
+-- Unlike @Data.Text.IO@, these functions do not depend on the locale
+-- and do not do line ending conversion.
+module Data.Text.IO.Utf8
+    (
+    -- * File-at-a-time operations
+      readFile
+    , writeFile
+    , appendFile
+    -- * Operations on handles
+    , hGetContents
+    , hGetLine
+    , hPutStr
+    , hPutStrLn
+    -- * Special cases for standard input and output
+    , interact
+    , getContents
+    , getLine
+    , putStr
+    , putStrLn
+    ) where
+
+import Prelude hiding (readFile, writeFile, appendFile, interact, getContents, getLine, putStr, putStrLn)
+import Control.Exception (evaluate)
+import Control.Monad ((<=<))
+import Data.ByteString (ByteString)
+import qualified Data.ByteString as B
+import Data.Text (Text)
+import Data.Text.Encoding (decodeUtf8, encodeUtf8)
+import GHC.IO.Handle (Handle)
+import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as B.Char8
+
+decodeUtf8IO :: ByteString -> IO Text
+decodeUtf8IO = evaluate . decodeUtf8
+
+-- | The 'readFile' function reads a file and returns the contents of
+-- the file as a string.  The entire file is read strictly, as with
+-- 'getContents'.
+readFile :: FilePath -> IO Text
+readFile = decodeUtf8IO <=< B.readFile
+
+-- | Write a string to a file.  The file is truncated to zero length
+-- before writing begins.
+writeFile :: FilePath -> Text -> IO ()
+writeFile fp = B.writeFile fp . encodeUtf8
+
+-- | Write a string to the end of a file.
+appendFile :: FilePath -> Text -> IO ()
+appendFile fp = B.appendFile fp . encodeUtf8
+
+-- | Read the remaining contents of a 'Handle' as a string.
+hGetContents :: Handle -> IO Text
+hGetContents = decodeUtf8IO <=< B.hGetContents
+
+-- | Read a single line from a handle.
+hGetLine :: Handle -> IO Text
+hGetLine = decodeUtf8IO <=< B.hGetLine
+
+-- | Write a string to a handle.
+hPutStr :: Handle -> Text -> IO ()
+hPutStr h = B.hPutStr h . encodeUtf8
+
+-- | Write a string to a handle, followed by a newline.
+hPutStrLn :: Handle -> Text -> IO ()
+hPutStrLn h t = hPutStr h t >> B.hPutStr h (B.Char8.singleton '\n')
+
+-- | The 'interact' function takes a function of type @Text -> Text@
+-- as its argument. The entire input from the standard input device is
+-- passed to this function as its argument, and the resulting string
+-- is output on the standard output device.
+interact :: (Text -> Text) -> IO ()
+interact f = putStr . f =<< getContents
+
+-- | Read all user input on 'stdin' as a single string.
+getContents :: IO Text
+getContents = decodeUtf8IO =<< B.getContents
+
+-- | Read a single line of user input from 'stdin'.
+getLine :: IO Text
+getLine = decodeUtf8IO =<< B.getLine
+
+-- | Write a string to 'stdout'.
+putStr :: Text -> IO ()
+putStr = B.putStr . encodeUtf8
+
+-- | Write a string to 'stdout', followed by a newline.
+putStrLn :: Text -> IO ()
+putStrLn t = B.putStr (encodeUtf8 t) >> B.putStr (B.Char8.singleton '\n')
diff --git a/tests/Tests/Properties/LowLevel.hs b/tests/Tests/Properties/LowLevel.hs
index c3b0a605..5a7c7ceb 100644
--- a/tests/Tests/Properties/LowLevel.hs
+++ b/tests/Tests/Properties/LowLevel.hs
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import qualified Data.Text as T
 import qualified Data.Text.IO as T
 import qualified Data.Text.Lazy as TL
 import qualified Data.Text.Lazy.IO as TL
+import qualified Data.Text.IO.Utf8 as TU
 import qualified System.IO as IO
 
 #ifdef MIN_VERSION_tasty_inspection_testing
@@ -107,6 +108,9 @@ t_write_read_line m b t = write_read (T.concat . take 1) T.filter T.hPutStrLn
 tl_write_read_line m b t = write_read (TL.concat . take 1) TL.filter TL.hPutStrLn
                              TL.hGetLine m b [t]
 
+utf8_write_read = write_read T.unlines T.filter TU.hPutStr TU.hGetContents
+utf8_write_read_line m b t = write_read (T.concat . take 1) T.filter TU.hPutStrLn
+                            TU.hGetLine m b [t]
 
 testLowLevel :: TestTree
 testLowLevel =
@@ -142,7 +146,9 @@ testLowLevel =
       testProperty "t_write_read" t_write_read,
       testProperty "tl_write_read" tl_write_read,
       testProperty "t_write_read_line" t_write_read_line,
-      testProperty "tl_write_read_line" tl_write_read_line
+      testProperty "tl_write_read_line" tl_write_read_line,
+      testProperty "utf8_write_read" utf8_write_read,
+      testProperty "utf8_write_read_line" utf8_write_read_line
       -- These tests are subject to I/O race conditions
       -- testProperty "t_put_get" t_put_get,
       -- testProperty "tl_put_get" tl_put_get
diff --git a/text.cabal b/text.cabal
index 05946247..9d340387 100644
--- a/text.cabal
+++ b/text.cabal
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ library
     Data.Text.Encoding.Error
     Data.Text.Foreign
     Data.Text.IO
+    Data.Text.IO.Utf8
     Data.Text.Internal
     Data.Text.Internal.Builder
     Data.Text.Internal.Builder.Functions