diff --git a/doc/api/gridfs/grid_file.rst b/doc/api/gridfs/grid_file.rst
index b264e0135..1fb1181e2 100644
--- a/doc/api/gridfs/grid_file.rst
+++ b/doc/api/gridfs/grid_file.rst
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
       :members:
 
       .. autoattribute:: _id
+      .. automethod:: __iter__
 
    .. autoclass:: GridFile
       :members:
diff --git a/gridfs/grid_file.py b/gridfs/grid_file.py
index 45c1d77b5..2936c3f6b 100644
--- a/gridfs/grid_file.py
+++ b/gridfs/grid_file.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 """Tools for representing files stored in GridFS."""
 
 import datetime
+import math
 import os
 try:
     from cStringIO import StringIO
@@ -351,7 +352,7 @@ class GridOut(object):
             chunk = self.__chunks.find_one({"files_id": self._id,
                                             "n": chunk_number})
             if not chunk:
-                raise CorruptGridFile("no chunk for n = " + chunk_number)
+                raise CorruptGridFile("no chunk #%d" % chunk_number)
 
             if not data:
                 data += chunk["data"][self.__position % self.chunk_size:]
@@ -397,6 +398,37 @@ class GridOut(object):
         self.__position = new_pos
         self.__buffer = ""
 
+    def __iter__(self):
+        """Return an iterator over all of this file's data.
+
+        The iterator will return chunk-sized instances of
+        :class:`str`. This can be useful when serving files using a
+        webserver that handles such an iterator efficiently.
+        """
+        return GridOutIterator(self, self.__chunks)
+
+
+class GridOutIterator(object):
+    def __init__(self, grid_out, chunks):
+        self.__id = grid_out._id
+        self.__chunks = chunks
+        self.__current_chunk = 0
+        self.__max_chunk = math.ceil(float(grid_out.length) /
+                                     grid_out.chunk_size)
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self
+
+    def next(self):
+        if self.__current_chunk >= self.__max_chunk:
+            raise StopIteration
+        chunk = self.__chunks.find_one({"files_id": self.__id,
+                                        "n": self.__current_chunk})
+        if not chunk:
+            raise CorruptGridFile("no chunk #%d" % self.__current_chunk)
+        self.__current_chunk += 1
+        return str(chunk["data"])
+
 
 class GridFile(object):
     """No longer supported.
diff --git a/test/test_grid_file.py b/test/test_grid_file.py
index 46ebf1d27..5c80bf3ca 100644
--- a/test/test_grid_file.py
+++ b/test/test_grid_file.py
@@ -350,6 +350,27 @@ class TestGridFile(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEqual("d", g.read(2))
         self.assertEqual("", g.read(2))
 
+    def test_iterator(self):
+        f = GridIn(self.db.fs)
+        f.close()
+        g = GridOut(self.db.fs, f._id)
+        self.assertEqual([], list(g))
+
+        f = GridIn(self.db.fs)
+        f.write("hello world")
+        f.close()
+        g = GridOut(self.db.fs, f._id)
+        self.assertEqual(["hello world"], list(g))
+        self.assertEqual("hello", g.read(5))
+        self.assertEqual(["hello world"], list(g))
+        self.assertEqual(" worl", g.read(5))
+
+        f = GridIn(self.db.fs, chunk_size=2)
+        f.write("hello world")
+        f.close()
+        g = GridOut(self.db.fs, f._id)
+        self.assertEqual(["he", "ll", "o ", "wo", "rl", "d"], list(g))
+
     def test_read_chunks_unaligned_buffer_size(self):
         in_data = "This is a text that doesn't quite fit in a single 16-byte chunk."
         f = GridIn(self.db.fs, chunkSize=16)