diff --git a/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.html b/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.html
index 612c3b159..586d02686 100644
--- a/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.html
+++ b/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.html
@@ -31,8 +31,10 @@
     <div class="form-row">
         <label for="node-input-datatype"><i class="fa fa-sign-out"></i> <span data-i18n="mqtt.label.output"></span></label>
         <select id="node-input-datatype" style="width:70%;">
+            <option value="auto" data-i18n="mqtt.output.auto"></option>
             <option value="buffer" data-i18n="mqtt.output.buffer"></option>
             <option value="utf8" data-i18n="mqtt.output.string"></option>
+            <option value="base64" data-i18n="mqtt.output.base64"></option>
         </select>
     </div>
     <div class="form-row">
@@ -68,7 +70,7 @@
             name: {value:""},
             topic: {value:"",required:true,validate: RED.validators.regex(/^(#$|(\+|[^+#]*)(\/(\+|[^+#]*))*(\/(\+|#|[^+#]*))?$)/)},
             qos: {value: "2"},
-            datatype: {value:"utf8",required:true},
+            datatype: {value:"auto",required:true},
             broker: {type:"mqtt-broker", required:true}
         },
         color:"#d8bfd8",
@@ -86,7 +88,7 @@
                 $("#node-input-qos").val("2");
             }
             if (this.datatype === undefined) {
-                $("#node-input-datatype").val("utf8");
+                $("#node-input-datatype").val("auto");
             }
         }
     });
diff --git a/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.js b/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.js
index e9d87ad43..ff152c7b8 100644
--- a/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.js
+++ b/nodes/core/io/10-mqtt.js
@@ -399,7 +399,15 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
             if (this.topic) {
                 node.brokerConn.register(this);
                 this.brokerConn.subscribe(this.topic,this.qos,function(topic,payload,packet) {
-                    if (this.datatype == "utf8" && isUtf8(payload)) { payload = payload.toString(); }
+                    if (node.datatype =="buffer") {
+                        // payload = payload;
+                    } else if (node.datatype =="base64") {
+                        payload = payload.toString('base64');
+                    } else if (node.datatype =="utf8") {
+                        payload = payload.toString('utf8');
+                    } else {
+                        if (isUtf8(payload)) { payload = payload.toString(); }
+                    }
                     var msg = {topic:topic,payload:payload, qos: packet.qos, retain: packet.retain};
                     if ((node.brokerConn.broker === "localhost")||(node.brokerConn.broker === "127.0.0.1")) {
                         msg._topic = topic;
diff --git a/nodes/core/locales/en-US/messages.json b/nodes/core/locales/en-US/messages.json
index d4c995ac1..74885cfcb 100644
--- a/nodes/core/locales/en-US/messages.json
+++ b/nodes/core/locales/en-US/messages.json
@@ -361,7 +361,9 @@
         "retain": "Retain",
         "output": {
             "buffer": "a Buffer",
-            "string": "a String"
+            "string": "a String",
+            "base64": "a Base64 encoded string",
+            "auto": "auto-detect"
         },
         "true": "true",
         "false": "false",
diff --git a/nodes/core/locales/ja/messages.json b/nodes/core/locales/ja/messages.json
index 3b42454a3..546394682 100644
--- a/nodes/core/locales/ja/messages.json
+++ b/nodes/core/locales/ja/messages.json
@@ -361,7 +361,8 @@
         "retain": "保持",
         "output": {
             "buffer": "バイナリバッファ",
-            "string": "文字列"
+            "string": "文字列",
+            "base64": "Base64文字列"
         },
         "true": "する",
         "false": "しない",
diff --git a/nodes/core/locales/zh-CN/messages.json b/nodes/core/locales/zh-CN/messages.json
index aa4bc2113..16afd6707 100644
--- a/nodes/core/locales/zh-CN/messages.json
+++ b/nodes/core/locales/zh-CN/messages.json
@@ -345,7 +345,8 @@
         "retain": "保留",
         "output": {
             "buffer": "Buffer",
-            "string": "字符串"
+            "string": "字符串",
+            "base64": "Base64编码字符串"
         },
         "true": "是",
         "false": "否",