diff --git a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe-get.py b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe-get.py
index 5c92ef0eb..fcc8c43d7 100644
--- a/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe-get.py
+++ b/src/allmydata/scripts/tahoe-get.py
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 
 import optparse, sys, urllib
 
-def GET(url):
+def GET(url, outf):
     f = urllib.urlopen(url)
-    sys.stdout.write(f.read())
+    outf.write(f.read())
 
 parser = optparse.OptionParser()
 parser.add_option("-d", "--vdrive", dest="vdrive", default="global")
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@ parser.add_option("-s", "--server", dest="server", default="http://tahoebs1.allm
 (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
 
 vfname = args[0]
+if len(args) == 1 or args[1] == "-":
+    targfname = None
+else:
+    targfname = args[1]
 
 base = "http://tahoebs1.allmydata.com:8011/"
 base += "vdrive/"
@@ -21,4 +25,7 @@ base += "/"
 
 url = base + vfname
 
-GET(url)
+if targfname is None:
+    GET(url, sys.stdout)
+else:
+    GET(url, open(targfname, "wb"))