diff --git a/docs/ref/files/file.txt b/docs/ref/files/file.txt
index bc59311792..aa037f7c2a 100644
--- a/docs/ref/files/file.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/files/file.txt
@@ -110,6 +110,9 @@ are the same as this one line::
 
     >>> car.photo.save('myphoto.jpg', contents, save=True)
 
+Note that the ``content`` argument must be an instance of
+:class:`File` or of a subclass of :class:`File`.
+
 ``File.delete(save=True)``
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/docs/ref/files/storage.txt b/docs/ref/files/storage.txt
index a09cd2f86d..0ca577059e 100644
--- a/docs/ref/files/storage.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/files/storage.txt
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ If there already exists a file with this name ``name``, the storage system may
 modify the filename as necessary to get a unique name. The actual name of the
 stored file will be returned.
 
+The ``content`` argument must be an instance of
+:class:`django.db.files.File` or of a subclass of
+:class:`~django.db.files.File`.
+
 ``Storage.delete(name)``
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/docs/topics/files.txt b/docs/topics/files.txt
index dabee7dacb..d17af99c48 100644
--- a/docs/topics/files.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/files.txt
@@ -96,8 +96,9 @@ You can create an instance of some custom file storage class, or -- often more
 useful -- you can use the global default storage system::
 
     >>> from django.core.files.storage import default_storage
+    >>> from django.core.files.base import ContentFile
 
-    >>> path = default_storage.save('/path/to/file', 'new content')
+    >>> path = default_storage.save('/path/to/file', ContentFile('new content'))
     >>> path
     u'/path/to/file'