diff --git a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java
index 850faa26ad..8b868c4f49 100644
--- a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java
+++ b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpClientCodec.java
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ public final class HttpClientCodec
 
         @Override
         protected void encode(
-                ChannelHandlerContext ctx, HttpObject msg, List<Object> out) throws Exception {
+                ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, List<Object> out) throws Exception {
             if (msg instanceof HttpRequest && !done) {
                 queue.offer(((HttpRequest) msg).getMethod());
             }
diff --git a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectEncoder.java b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectEncoder.java
index 1d0898e2ae..6ce1013a44 100644
--- a/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectEncoder.java
+++ b/codec-http/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http/HttpObjectEncoder.java
@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ package io.netty.handler.codec.http;
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
 import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.channel.FileRegion;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.MessageToMessageEncoder;
 import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
+import io.netty.util.ReferenceCountUtil;
 
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -39,7 +41,7 @@ import static io.netty.handler.codec.http.HttpConstants.*;
  * To implement the encoder of such a derived protocol, extend this class and
  * implement all abstract methods properly.
  */
-public abstract class HttpObjectEncoder<H extends HttpMessage> extends MessageToMessageEncoder<HttpObject> {
+public abstract class HttpObjectEncoder<H extends HttpMessage> extends MessageToMessageEncoder<Object> {
     private static final byte[] CRLF = { CR, LF };
     private static final byte[] ZERO_CRLF = { '0', CR, LF };
     private static final byte[] ZERO_CRLF_CRLF = { '0', CR, LF, CR, LF };
@@ -53,7 +55,7 @@ public abstract class HttpObjectEncoder<H extends HttpMessage> extends MessageTo
     private int state = ST_INIT;
 
     @Override
-    protected void encode(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, HttpObject msg, List<Object> out) throws Exception {
+    protected void encode(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, List<Object> out) throws Exception {
         if (msg instanceof HttpMessage) {
             if (state != ST_INIT) {
                 throw new IllegalStateException("unexpected message type: " + msg.getClass().getSimpleName());
@@ -70,25 +72,22 @@ public abstract class HttpObjectEncoder<H extends HttpMessage> extends MessageTo
             out.add(buf);
             state = HttpHeaders.isTransferEncodingChunked(m) ? ST_CONTENT_CHUNK : ST_CONTENT_NON_CHUNK;
         }
-        if (msg instanceof HttpContent) {
+        if (msg instanceof HttpContent || msg instanceof ByteBuf || msg instanceof FileRegion) {
             if (state == ST_INIT) {
                 throw new IllegalStateException("unexpected message type: " + msg.getClass().getSimpleName());
             }
 
-            HttpContent chunk = (HttpContent) msg;
-            ByteBuf content = chunk.content();
-            int contentLength = content.readableBytes();
-
+            int contentLength = contentLength(msg);
             if (state == ST_CONTENT_NON_CHUNK) {
                 if (contentLength > 0) {
-                    out.add(content.retain());
+                    out.add(encodeAndRetain(msg));
                 } else {
                     // Need to produce some output otherwise an
                     // IllegalstateException will be thrown
                     out.add(Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER);
                 }
 
-                if (chunk instanceof LastHttpContent) {
+                if (msg instanceof LastHttpContent) {
                     state = ST_INIT;
                 }
             } else if (state == ST_CONTENT_CHUNK) {
@@ -98,12 +97,12 @@ public abstract class HttpObjectEncoder<H extends HttpMessage> extends MessageTo
                     buf.writeBytes(length);
                     buf.writeBytes(CRLF);
                     out.add(buf);
-                    out.add(content.retain());
+                    out.add(encodeAndRetain(msg));
                     out.add(ctx.alloc().buffer(CRLF.length).writeBytes(CRLF));
                 }
 
-                if (chunk instanceof LastHttpContent) {
-                    HttpHeaders headers = ((LastHttpContent) chunk).trailingHeaders();
+                if (msg instanceof LastHttpContent) {
+                    HttpHeaders headers = ((LastHttpContent) msg).trailingHeaders();
                     if (headers.isEmpty()) {
                         out.add(ctx.alloc().buffer(ZERO_CRLF_CRLF.length).writeBytes(ZERO_CRLF_CRLF));
                     } else {
@@ -128,6 +127,37 @@ public abstract class HttpObjectEncoder<H extends HttpMessage> extends MessageTo
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean acceptOutboundMessage(Object msg) throws Exception {
+        return msg instanceof HttpObject || msg instanceof ByteBuf || msg instanceof FileRegion;
+    }
+
+    private static Object encodeAndRetain(Object msg) {
+        if (msg instanceof ByteBuf) {
+            return ((ByteBuf) msg).retain();
+        }
+        if (msg instanceof HttpContent) {
+            return ((HttpContent) msg).content().retain();
+        }
+        if (msg instanceof FileRegion) {
+            return ((FileRegion) msg).retain();
+        }
+        throw new IllegalStateException("unexpected message type: " + msg.getClass().getSimpleName());
+    }
+
+    private static int contentLength(Object msg) {
+        if (msg instanceof HttpContent) {
+            return ((HttpContent) msg).content().readableBytes();
+        }
+        if (msg instanceof ByteBuf) {
+            return ((ByteBuf) msg).readableBytes();
+        }
+        if (msg instanceof FileRegion) {
+            return (int) ((FileRegion) msg).count();
+        }
+        throw new IllegalStateException("unexpected message type: " + msg.getClass().getSimpleName());
+    }
+
     private static void encodeHeaders(ByteBuf buf, HttpHeaders headers) {
         for (Map.Entry<String, String> h: headers) {
             encodeHeader(buf, h.getKey(), h.getValue());