diff --git a/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py b/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
index 827f2b6c50..045bc96397 100644
--- a/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
+++ b/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
             help="Only dump objects with given primary keys. "
                  "Accepts a comma separated list of keys. "
                  "This option will only work when you specify one model."),
+        make_option('-o' ,'--output', default=None, dest='output',
+            help='Specifies file to which the output is written.'),
     )
     help = ("Output the contents of the database as a fixture of the given "
             "format (using each model's default manager unless --all is "
@@ -47,6 +49,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
         indent = options.get('indent')
         using = options.get('database')
         excludes = options.get('exclude')
+        output = options.get('output')
         show_traceback = options.get('traceback')
         use_natural_keys = options.get('use_natural_keys')
         if use_natural_keys:
@@ -155,7 +158,7 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
             serializers.serialize(format, get_objects(), indent=indent,
                     use_natural_foreign_keys=use_natural_foreign_keys,
                     use_natural_primary_keys=use_natural_primary_keys,
-                    stream=self.stdout)
+                    stream=open(output, 'w') if output else self.stdout)
         except Exception as e:
             if show_traceback:
                 raise
diff --git a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
index ca418681d0..fc36e138e9 100644
--- a/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/django-admin.txt
@@ -277,6 +277,13 @@ you can use the ``--pks`` option to specify a comma separated list of
 primary keys on which to filter.  This is only available when dumping
 one model.
 
+.. versionadded:: 1.8
+
+.. django-admin-option:: --output
+
+By default ``dumpdata`` will output all the serialized data to standard output.
+This options allows to specify the file to which the data is to be written.
+
 flush
 -----
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.8.txt b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
index 7e81cb6e08..ba17a07cca 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.8.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.8.txt
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ Internationalization
 Management Commands
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-* ...
+* :djadmin:`dumpdata` now has the option ``--output`` which allows to specify the
+file to which the serialized data is to be written.
 
 Models
 ^^^^^^
diff --git a/tests/fixtures/tests.py b/tests/fixtures/tests.py
index fb807bb97c..de976ba666 100644
--- a/tests/fixtures/tests.py
+++ b/tests/fixtures/tests.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
+import os
 import warnings
 
 from django.contrib.sites.models import Site
@@ -37,19 +38,24 @@ class SubclassTestCaseFixtureLoadingTests(TestCaseFixtureLoadingTests):
 
 class DumpDataAssertMixin(object):
 
-    def _dumpdata_assert(self, args, output, format='json',
+    def _dumpdata_assert(self, args, output, format='json', filename=None,
                          natural_foreign_keys=False, natural_primary_keys=False,
                          use_base_manager=False, exclude_list=[], primary_keys=''):
         new_io = six.StringIO()
         management.call_command('dumpdata', *args, **{'format': format,
                                                       'stdout': new_io,
                                                       'stderr': new_io,
+                                                      'output': filename,
                                                       'use_natural_foreign_keys': natural_foreign_keys,
                                                       'use_natural_primary_keys': natural_primary_keys,
                                                       'use_base_manager': use_base_manager,
                                                       'exclude': exclude_list,
                                                       'primary_keys': primary_keys})
-        command_output = new_io.getvalue().strip()
+        if filename:
+            command_output = open(filename, "r").read()
+            os.remove(filename)
+        else:
+            command_output = new_io.getvalue().strip()
         if format == "json":
             self.assertJSONEqual(command_output, output)
         elif format == "xml":
@@ -282,6 +288,11 @@ class FixtureLoadingTests(DumpDataAssertMixin, TestCase):
                 primary_keys='2,3'
             )
 
+    def test_dumpdata_with_file_output(self):
+        management.call_command('loaddata', 'fixture1.json', verbosity=0)
+        self._dumpdata_assert(['fixtures'], '[{"pk": 1, "model": "fixtures.category", "fields": {"description": "Latest news stories", "title": "News Stories"}}, {"pk": 2, "model": "fixtures.article", "fields": {"headline": "Poker has no place on ESPN", "pub_date": "2006-06-16T12:00:00"}}, {"pk": 3, "model": "fixtures.article", "fields": {"headline": "Time to reform copyright", "pub_date": "2006-06-16T13:00:00"}}, {"pk": 10, "model": "fixtures.book", "fields": {"name": "Achieving self-awareness of Python programs", "authors": []}}]',
+                filename='dumpdata.json')
+
     def test_compress_format_loading(self):
         # Load fixture 4 (compressed), using format specification
         management.call_command('loaddata', 'fixture4.json', verbosity=0)