diff --git a/aiida/backends/tests/orm/data/test_singlefile.py b/aiida/backends/tests/orm/data/test_singlefile.py
index 5d1e2ec24e..269ad33422 100644
--- a/aiida/backends/tests/orm/data/test_singlefile.py
+++ b/aiida/backends/tests/orm/data/test_singlefile.py
@@ -66,9 +66,9 @@ def test_construct_from_filelike(self):
         """Test constructing an instance from filelike instead of filepath."""
         content_original = u'some testing text\nwith a newline'
 
-        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode='w+') as handle:
+        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(mode='wb+') as handle:
             basename = os.path.basename(handle.name)
-            handle.write(content_original)
+            handle.write(content_original.encode('utf-8'))
             handle.flush()
             handle.seek(0)
             node = SinglefileData(file=handle)
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ def test_construct_from_string(self):
         """Test constructing an instance from a string."""
         content_original = u'some testing text\nwith a newline'
 
-        with io.StringIO(content_original) as handle:
+        with io.BytesIO(content_original.encode('utf-8')) as handle:
             node = SinglefileData(file=handle)
 
         with node.open() as handle:
diff --git a/aiida/common/folders.py b/aiida/common/folders.py
index 4f9268afa6..e72a6a7759 100644
--- a/aiida/common/folders.py
+++ b/aiida/common/folders.py
@@ -230,6 +230,9 @@ def create_file_from_filelike(self, filelike, filename, mode='wb', encoding=None
         filename = six.text_type(filename)
         filepath = self.get_abs_path(filename)
 
+        if 'b' in mode:
+            encoding = None
+
         with io.open(filepath, mode=mode, encoding=encoding) as handle:
 
             # In python 2 a string literal can either be of unicode or string (bytes) type. Since we do not know what
@@ -243,6 +246,7 @@ def create_file_from_filelike(self, filelike, filename, mode='wb', encoding=None
                 try:
                     shutil.copyfileobj(utf8reader(filelike), handle)
                 except (UnicodeDecodeError, UnicodeEncodeError):
+                    filelike.seek(0)
                     shutil.copyfileobj(filelike, handle)
             else:
                 shutil.copyfileobj(filelike, handle)
diff --git a/aiida/engine/daemon/execmanager.py b/aiida/engine/daemon/execmanager.py
index 67406b6473..fb21ac743a 100644
--- a/aiida/engine/daemon/execmanager.py
+++ b/aiida/engine/daemon/execmanager.py
@@ -161,9 +161,11 @@ def upload_calculation(node, transport, calc_info, script_filename, dry_run=Fals
 
         # Note, once #2579 is implemented, use the `node.open` method instead of the named temporary file in
         # combination with the new `Transport.put_object_from_filelike`
-        with NamedTemporaryFile(mode='w+') as handle:
-            handle.write(data_node.get_object_content(filename))
+        # Since the content of the node could potentially be binary, we read the raw bytes and pass them on
+        with NamedTemporaryFile(mode='wb+') as handle:
+            handle.write(data_node.get_object_content(filename, mode='rb'))
             handle.flush()
+            handle.seek(0)
             transport.put(handle.name, target)
 
     if dry_run:
diff --git a/aiida/orm/nodes/data/singlefile.py b/aiida/orm/nodes/data/singlefile.py
index d73a8d2a12..cbcb0e6c23 100644
--- a/aiida/orm/nodes/data/singlefile.py
+++ b/aiida/orm/nodes/data/singlefile.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def set_file(self, file):
             pass
 
         if is_filelike:
-            self.put_object_from_filelike(file, key)
+            self.put_object_from_filelike(file, key, mode='wb')
         else:
             self.put_object_from_file(file, key)
 
diff --git a/aiida/orm/nodes/node.py b/aiida/orm/nodes/node.py
index 251b865aaf..e5bf9e7c6d 100644
--- a/aiida/orm/nodes/node.py
+++ b/aiida/orm/nodes/node.py
@@ -682,12 +682,12 @@ def get_object(self, key):
         """
         return self._repository.get_object(key)
 
-    def get_object_content(self, key):
+    def get_object_content(self, key, mode='r'):
         """Return the content of a object identified by key.
 
         :param key: fully qualified identifier for the object within the repository
         """
-        return self._repository.get_object_content(key)
+        return self._repository.get_object_content(key, mode)
 
     def put_object_from_tree(self, path, key=None, contents_only=True, force=False):
         """Store a new object under `key` with the contents of the directory located at `path` on this file system.
diff --git a/aiida/orm/utils/repository.py b/aiida/orm/utils/repository.py
index eb61f4dff1..84044d5cf6 100644
--- a/aiida/orm/utils/repository.py
+++ b/aiida/orm/utils/repository.py
@@ -126,12 +126,13 @@ def get_object(self, key):
 
         return File(filename, FileType.FILE)
 
-    def get_object_content(self, key):
+    def get_object_content(self, key, mode='r'):
         """Return the content of a object identified by key.
 
         :param key: fully qualified identifier for the object within the repository
+        :param mode: the mode under which to open the handle
         """
-        with self.open(key) as handle:
+        with self.open(key, mode=mode) as handle:
             return handle.read()
 
     def put_object_from_tree(self, path, key=None, contents_only=True, force=False):