diff --git a/lib/galaxy/jobs/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/jobs/__init__.py
index d6c003eea1d..bbb215ed2e2 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/jobs/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/jobs/__init__.py
@@ -1454,7 +1454,8 @@ class JobWrapper(HasResourceParameters):
             if not os.path.exists(version_filename):
                 version_filename = self.get_version_string_path_legacy()
             if os.path.exists(version_filename):
-                self.version_string = open(version_filename).read()
+                with open(version_filename, 'rb') as fh:
+                    self.version_string = galaxy.util.shrink_and_unicodify(fh.read())
                 os.unlink(version_filename)
 
         outputs_to_working_directory = util.asbool(self.get_destination_configuration("outputs_to_working_directory", False))
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py
index 7d0f91185dd..3482203de8c 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py
@@ -289,11 +289,13 @@ class JobLike(object):
 
     def set_streams(self, tool_stdout, tool_stderr, job_stdout=None, job_stderr=None, job_messages=None):
         def shrink_and_unicodify(what, stream):
-            stream = galaxy.util.unicodify(stream) or u''
-            if (len(stream) > galaxy.util.DATABASE_MAX_STRING_SIZE):
-                stream = galaxy.util.shrink_string_by_size(tool_stdout, galaxy.util.DATABASE_MAX_STRING_SIZE, join_by="\n..\n", left_larger=True, beginning_on_size_error=True)
-                log.info("%s for %s %d is greater than %s, only a portion will be logged to database", what, type(self), self.id, galaxy.util.DATABASE_MAX_STRING_SIZE_PRETTY)
-            return stream
+            if len(stream) > galaxy.util.DATABASE_MAX_STRING_SIZE:
+                log.info("%s for %s %d is greater than %s, only a portion will be logged to database",
+                         what,
+                         type(self),
+                         self.id,
+                         galaxy.util.DATABASE_MAX_STRING_SIZE_PRETTY)
+            return galaxy.util.shrink_and_unicodify(stream)
 
         self.tool_stdout = shrink_and_unicodify('tool_stdout', tool_stdout)
         self.tool_stderr = shrink_and_unicodify('tool_stderr', tool_stderr)
@@ -2397,6 +2399,14 @@ class DatasetInstance(object):
         self.parent_id = parent_id
         self.validation_errors = validation_errors
 
+    @property
+    def peek(self):
+        return self._peek
+
+    @peek.setter
+    def peek(self, peek):
+        self._peek = unicodify(peek, strip_null=True)
+
     def update(self):
         self.update_time = galaxy.model.orm.now.now()
 
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/model/mapping.py b/lib/galaxy/model/mapping.py
index e9858e23292..251c2695d17 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/model/mapping.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/model/mapping.py
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ model.HistoryDatasetAssociation.table = Table(
     Column("name", TrimmedString(255)),
     Column("info", TrimmedString(255)),
     Column("blurb", TrimmedString(255)),
-    Column("peek", TEXT),
+    Column("peek", TEXT, key="_peek"),
     Column("tool_version", TEXT),
     Column("extension", TrimmedString(64)),
     Column("metadata", MetadataType(), key="_metadata"),
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ model.LibraryDatasetDatasetAssociation.table = Table(
     Column("name", TrimmedString(255), index=True),
     Column("info", TrimmedString(255)),
     Column("blurb", TrimmedString(255)),
-    Column("peek", TEXT),
+    Column("peek", TEXT, key="_peek"),
     Column("tool_version", TEXT),
     Column("extension", TrimmedString(64)),
     Column("metadata", MetadataType(), key="_metadata"),
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
index 93c76f36003..686946e9c96 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
@@ -402,6 +402,17 @@ def shrink_stream_by_size(value, size, join_by=b"..", left_larger=True, beginnin
     return unicodify(rval)
 
 
+def shrink_and_unicodify(stream):
+    stream = unicodify(stream, strip_null=True) or u''
+    if (len(stream) > DATABASE_MAX_STRING_SIZE):
+        stream = shrink_string_by_size(stream,
+                                       DATABASE_MAX_STRING_SIZE,
+                                       join_by="\n..\n",
+                                       left_larger=True,
+                                       beginning_on_size_error=True)
+    return stream
+
+
 def shrink_string_by_size(value, size, join_by="..", left_larger=True, beginning_on_size_error=False, end_on_size_error=False):
     if len(value) > size:
         len_join_by = len(join_by)
@@ -993,7 +1004,7 @@ def roundify(amount, sfs=2):
         return amount[0:sfs] + '0' * (len(amount) - sfs)
 
 
-def unicodify(value, encoding=DEFAULT_ENCODING, error='replace'):
+def unicodify(value, encoding=DEFAULT_ENCODING, error='replace', strip_null=False):
     u"""
     Returns a Unicode string or None.
 
@@ -1008,7 +1019,7 @@ def unicodify(value, encoding=DEFAULT_ENCODING, error='replace'):
     >>> s = u'lâtín strìñg'; assert unicodify(s.encode('latin-1')) == u'l\ufffdt\ufffdn str\ufffd\ufffdg'
     >>> s = u'lâtín strìñg'; assert unicodify(s.encode('latin-1'), error='ignore') == u'ltn strg'
     """
-    if value is None or isinstance(value, text_type):
+    if value is None:
         return value
     try:
         if isinstance(value, bytearray):
@@ -1025,6 +1036,8 @@ def unicodify(value, encoding=DEFAULT_ENCODING, error='replace'):
         msg = "Value '%s' could not be coerced to Unicode" % value
         log.exception(msg)
         raise Exception(msg)
+    if strip_null:
+        return value.replace('\0', '')
     return value
 
 
diff --git a/test/functional/tools/unicode_stream.xml b/test/functional/tools/unicode_stream.xml
index 7fb2b00a30d..623b83a61be 100644
--- a/test/functional/tools/unicode_stream.xml
+++ b/test/functional/tools/unicode_stream.xml
@@ -1,21 +1,26 @@
 <tool id="unicode_stream" name="unicode_stream" version="0.1.0">
     <description>
     </description>
+    <version_command>echo "\x00"</version_command>
     <command detect_errors="exit_code"><![CDATA[
-echo '$input1' > '$out_file1';
+#if $include_null:
+    echo "\x00" > $out_file1;
+#end if
+echo '$input1' >> '$out_file1';
 cat '$cf';
+echo "\x00";
 >&2 cat '$cf';
 sh -c "exit $exit"
     ]]></command>
     <configfiles>
-        <configfile name="cf">ვეპხის ტყაოსანი შოთა რუსთაველი
-</configfile>
+        <configfile name="cf">ვეპხის ტყაოსანი შოთა რუსთაველი</configfile>
     </configfiles>
     <inputs>
         <param name="input1" type="text" label="Input">
             <sanitizer sanitize="False" />
         </param>
         <param name="exit" type="integer" value="0" label="Exit Code" />
+        <param name="include_null" type="boolean" label="Include unicode null in output?"/>
     </inputs>
     <outputs>
         <data name="out_file1" format="txt" />
@@ -34,6 +39,10 @@ sh -c "exit $exit"
             <param name="input1" value="ვვვვვ"/>
             <param name="exit" value="0" />
         </test>
+        <test expect_exit_code="0" expect_failure="false">
+            <param name="include_null" value="true"/>
+            <param name="exit" value="0" />
+        </test>
     </tests>
     <help>
     </help>