diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpContentEncoder.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpContentEncoder.java
index f0fe19a762..807b4e8a27 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpContentEncoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpContentEncoder.java
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ public abstract class HttpContentEncoder extends SimpleChannelHandler {
                 throw new IllegalStateException("cannot send more responses than requests");
             }
 
-            if ((encoder = newContentEncoder(acceptEncoding)) != null) {
+            boolean hasContent = m.isChunked() || m.getContent().readable();
+            if (hasContent && (encoder = newContentEncoder(acceptEncoding)) != null) {
                 // Encode the content and remove or replace the existing headers
                 // so that the message looks like a decoded message.
                 m.setHeader(