diff --git a/examples/animation/simple_anim.py b/examples/animation/simple_anim.py
index 2b0f02849f0f..59552cd1cfa7 100644
--- a/examples/animation/simple_anim.py
+++ b/examples/animation/simple_anim.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def animate(i):
 
 
 ani = animation.FuncAnimation(
-    fig, animate, init_func=init, interval=2, blit=True)
+    fig, animate, init_func=init, interval=2, blit=True, save_count=50)
 
 # To save the animation, use e.g.
 #
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
index fc291e5152e7..911ee5445947 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/animation.py
@@ -38,9 +38,8 @@
 
 from matplotlib._animation_data import (DISPLAY_TEMPLATE, INCLUDED_FRAMES,
                                         JS_INCLUDE)
-from matplotlib.cbook import iterable, deprecated
 from matplotlib.compat import subprocess
-from matplotlib import rcParams, rcParamsDefault, rc_context
+from matplotlib import cbook, rcParams, rcParamsDefault, rc_context
 
 if six.PY2:
     from base64 import encodestring as encodebytes
@@ -1681,7 +1680,7 @@ def __init__(self, fig, func, frames=None, init_func=None, fargs=None,
             self._iter_gen = itertools.count
         elif callable(frames):
             self._iter_gen = frames
-        elif iterable(frames):
+        elif cbook.iterable(frames):
             self._iter_gen = lambda: iter(frames)
             if hasattr(frames, '__len__'):
                 self.save_count = len(frames)
@@ -1723,7 +1722,26 @@ def new_saved_frame_seq(self):
             self._old_saved_seq = list(self._save_seq)
             return iter(self._old_saved_seq)
         else:
-            return itertools.islice(self.new_frame_seq(), self.save_count)
+            if self.save_count is not None:
+                return itertools.islice(self.new_frame_seq(), self.save_count)
+
+            else:
+                frame_seq = self.new_frame_seq()
+
+                def gen():
+                    try:
+                        for _ in range(100):
+                            yield next(frame_seq)
+                    except StopIteration:
+                        pass
+                    else:
+                        cbook.warn_deprecated(
+                            "2.2", "FuncAnimation.save has truncated your "
+                            "animation to 100 frames.  In the future, no such "
+                            "truncation will occur; please pass 'save_count' "
+                            "accordingly.")
+
+                return gen()
 
     def _init_draw(self):
         # Initialize the drawing either using the given init_func or by