diff --git a/flask/helpers.py b/flask/helpers.py
index 2f446327..420467ad 100644
--- a/flask/helpers.py
+++ b/flask/helpers.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import mimetypes
 from time import time
 from zlib import adler32
 from threading import RLock
+import unicodedata
 from werkzeug.routing import BuildError
 from functools import update_wrapper
 
@@ -477,6 +478,11 @@ def send_file(filename_or_fp, mimetype=None, as_attachment=False,
     .. versionchanged:: 0.12
        The `attachment_filename` is preferred over `filename` for MIME-type
        detection.
+       
+    .. versionchanged:: 0.13
+        UTF-8 filenames, as specified in `RFC 2231`_, are supported.
+        
+    .. _RFC 2231: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2231#section-4
 
     :param filename_or_fp: the filename of the file to send in `latin-1`.
                            This is relative to the :attr:`~Flask.root_path`
@@ -534,8 +540,22 @@ def send_file(filename_or_fp, mimetype=None, as_attachment=False,
         if attachment_filename is None:
             raise TypeError('filename unavailable, required for '
                             'sending as attachment')
-        headers.add('Content-Disposition', 'attachment',
-                    filename=attachment_filename)
+
+        normalized = unicodedata.normalize(
+            'NFKD', text_type(attachment_filename)
+        )
+
+        try:
+            normalized.encode('ascii')
+        except UnicodeEncodeError:
+            filenames = {
+                'filename': normalized.encode('ascii', 'ignore'),
+                'filename*': "UTF-8''%s" % url_quote(attachment_filename),
+            }
+        else:
+            filenames = {'filename': attachment_filename}
+
+        headers.add('Content-Disposition', 'attachment', **filenames)
 
     if current_app.use_x_sendfile and filename:
         if file is not None:
diff --git a/tests/test_helpers.py b/tests/test_helpers.py
index fd448fb8..d93b443e 100644
--- a/tests/test_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/test_helpers.py
@@ -540,10 +540,11 @@ class TestSendfile(object):
                 value, options = \
                     parse_options_header(rv.headers['Content-Disposition'])
                 assert value == 'attachment'
+                assert options['filename'] == 'index.html'
+                assert 'filename*' not in rv.headers['Content-Disposition']
                 rv.close()
 
         with app.test_request_context():
-            assert options['filename'] == 'index.html'
             rv = flask.send_file('static/index.html', as_attachment=True)
             value, options = parse_options_header(rv.headers['Content-Disposition'])
             assert value == 'attachment'
@@ -560,6 +561,19 @@ class TestSendfile(object):
             assert options['filename'] == 'index.txt'
             rv.close()
 
+    def test_attachment_with_utf8_filename(self):
+        app = flask.Flask(__name__)
+
+        with app.test_request_context():
+            rv = flask.send_file('static/index.html', as_attachment=True, attachment_filename=u'Ñandú／pingüino.txt')
+            content_disposition = set(rv.headers['Content-Disposition'].split('; '))
+            assert content_disposition == set((
+                'attachment',
+                'filename="Nandu/pinguino.txt"',
+                "filename*=UTF-8''%C3%91and%C3%BA%EF%BC%8Fping%C3%BCino.txt"
+            ))
+            rv.close()
+
     def test_static_file(self):
         app = flask.Flask(__name__)
         # default cache timeout is 12 hours