diff --git a/doc/api/fs.markdown b/doc/api/fs.markdown
index 6d7cd783647..506883bbfe5 100644
--- a/doc/api/fs.markdown
+++ b/doc/api/fs.markdown
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ Returns a new ReadStream object (See `Readable Stream`).
 
 `options` can include `start` and `end` values to read a range of bytes from
 the file instead of the entire file.  Both `start` and `end` are inclusive and
-start at 0.  When used, both the limits must be specified always.
+start at 0.
 
 An example to read the last 10 bytes of a file which is 100 bytes long:
 
diff --git a/lib/fs.js b/lib/fs.js
index 0f2318d5845..ab169fb9abb 100644
--- a/lib/fs.js
+++ b/lib/fs.js
@@ -799,11 +799,12 @@ var ReadStream = fs.ReadStream = function(path, options) {
 
   if (this.encoding) this.setEncoding(this.encoding);
 
-  if (this.start !== undefined || this.end !== undefined) {
-    if (this.start === undefined || this.end === undefined) {
-      this.emit('error', new Error('Both start and end are needed ' +
-                                   'for range streaming.'));
-    } else if (this.start > this.end) {
+  if (this.start !== undefined) {
+    if (this.end === undefined) {
+      this.end = Infinity;
+    }
+
+    if (this.start > this.end) {
       this.emit('error', new Error('start must be <= end'));
     } else {
       this._firstRead = true;
diff --git a/test/simple/test-fs-read-stream.js b/test/simple/test-fs-read-stream.js
index 188c95d52db..5362389fde1 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-fs-read-stream.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-fs-read-stream.js
@@ -121,19 +121,19 @@ file4.addListener('end', function(data) {
   assert.equal(contentRead, 'yz');
 });
 
-try {
+var file5 = fs.createReadStream(rangeFile, {bufferSize: 1, start: 1});
+file5.data = '';
+file5.addListener('data', function(data) {
+  file5.data += data.toString('utf-8');
+});
+file5.addListener('end', function() {
+  assert.equal(file5.data, 'yz\n');
+});
+
+
+assert.throws(function() {
   fs.createReadStream(rangeFile, {start: 10, end: 2});
-  assert.fail('Creating a ReadStream with incorrect range limits must throw.');
-} catch (e) {
-  assert.equal(e.message, 'start must be <= end');
-}
-
-try {
-  fs.createReadStream(rangeFile, {start: 2});
-  assert.fail('Creating a ReadStream with a only one range limits must throw.');
-} catch (e) {
-  assert.equal(e.message, 'Both start and end are needed for range streaming.');
-}
+}, /start must be <= end/);
 
 var stream = fs.createReadStream(rangeFile, { start: 0, end: 0 });
 stream.data = '';