diff --git a/numpy/lib/npyio.py b/numpy/lib/npyio.py
index f7cde270d4a2..44a91c0c7995 100644
--- a/numpy/lib/npyio.py
+++ b/numpy/lib/npyio.py
@@ -1274,8 +1274,10 @@ def genfromtxt(fname, dtype=float, comments='#', delimiter=None,
                     first_line = asbytes('').join(first_line.split(comments)[1:])
             first_values = split_line(first_line)
     except StopIteration:
-        # might want to return empty array instead of raising error.
-        raise IOError('End-of-file reached before encountering data.')
+        # return an empty array if the datafile is empty
+        first_line = ''
+        first_values = []
+        warnings.warn('genfromtxt: Empty input file: "%s"' % fname)
 
     # Should we take the first values as names ?
     if names is True:
diff --git a/numpy/lib/tests/test_io.py b/numpy/lib/tests/test_io.py
index f9da258dc583..55068b7ab561 100644
--- a/numpy/lib/tests/test_io.py
+++ b/numpy/lib/tests/test_io.py
@@ -959,12 +959,11 @@ def test_usecols_with_named_columns(self):
                              usecols=('a', 'c'), **kwargs)
         assert_equal(test, ctrl)
 
-
     def test_empty_file(self):
         "Test that an empty file raises the proper exception"
         data = StringIO()
-        assert_raises(IOError, np.ndfromtxt, data)
-
+        test = np.genfromtxt(data)
+        assert_equal(test, np.array([]))
 
     def test_fancy_dtype_alt(self):
         "Check that a nested dtype isn't MIA"