diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/CheckpointRDD.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/CheckpointRDD.scala
index 7ba1182f0ed27..45feac983407c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/CheckpointRDD.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/CheckpointRDD.scala
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class CheckpointRDD[T: ClassTag](sc: SparkContext, val checkpointPath: String)
     Array.tabulate(numPartitions)(i => new CheckpointRDDPartition(i))
   }
 
-  checkpointData = Some(new RDDCheckpointData[T](this))
+  checkpointData = Some(new RDDCheckpointData[T](this, None))
   checkpointData.get.cpFile = Some(checkpointPath)
 
   override def getPreferredLocations(split: Partition): Seq[String] = {
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala
index e4025bcf48db6..98c07fbea398d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDD.scala
@@ -1193,22 +1193,36 @@ abstract class RDD[T: ClassTag](
     sc.runJob(this, (iter: Iterator[T]) => iter.toArray)
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Mark this RDD for checkpointing. It will be saved to a file inside the checkpoint
-   * directory set with SparkContext.setCheckpointDir() and all references to its parent
-   * RDDs will be removed. This function must be called before any job has been
-   * executed on this RDD. It is strongly recommended that this RDD is persisted in
-   * memory, otherwise saving it on a file will require recomputation.
-   */
-  def checkpoint() {
-    if (context.checkpointDir.isEmpty) {
+  /** A private method to execute checkpointing with the provided f function */
+  private[spark] def checkpoint(f: Option[RDD[T] => RDD[T]]) {
+    if (f.isEmpty && context.checkpointDir.isEmpty) {
       throw new SparkException("Checkpoint directory has not been set in the SparkContext")
     } else if (checkpointData.isEmpty) {
-      checkpointData = Some(new RDDCheckpointData(this))
+      checkpointData = Some(new RDDCheckpointData(this, f))
       checkpointData.get.markForCheckpoint()
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Mark this RDD for checkpointing. It will be saved to a file inside the checkpoint
+   * directory set with SparkContext.setCheckpointDir() and all references to its parent
+   * RDDs will be removed. This function must be called before any job has been executed
+   * on this RDD. It is strongly recommended that this RDD is persisted in memory,
+   * otherwise saving it on a file will require recomputation.
+   * Not providing any parameters invokes the default implementation. 
+   */
+  def checkpoint(): Unit = checkpoint(None)
+
+  /**
+   * Mark this RDD for checkpointing. Its saving and RDD reloading logic will be defined
+   * by function f (ie. save to a custom file format) and all references to its parent
+   * RDDs will be removed. This function must be called before any job has been executed
+   * on this RDD. It is strongly recommended that this RDD is persisted in memory,
+   * otherwise saving it on a file will require recomputation.
+   * f should not break the deterministic behavior of RDDs.
+   */
+  def checkpoint(f: RDD[T] => RDD[T]): Unit = checkpoint(Some(f))
+
   /**
    * Return whether this RDD has been checkpointed or not
    */
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDDCheckpointData.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDDCheckpointData.scala
index f67e5f1857979..2fcc31ddffc15 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDDCheckpointData.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/rdd/RDDCheckpointData.scala
@@ -35,12 +35,16 @@ private[spark] object CheckpointState extends Enumeration {
 
 /**
  * This class contains all the information related to RDD checkpointing. Each instance of this
- * class is associated with a RDD. It manages process of checkpointing of the associated RDD,
- * as well as, manages the post-checkpoint state by providing the updated partitions,
- * iterator and preferred locations of the checkpointed RDD.
+ * class is associated with an RDD. It manages process of checkpointing of the associated RDD,
+ * as well as, manages the post-checkpoint state by providing the updated partitions, iterator
+ * and preferred locations of the checkpointed RDD. The default save and reload implementation
+ * can be overridden by providing a custom saveAndReloadRDD function that can return any kind
+ * of RDD, not only a CheckpointRDD.
  */
-private[spark] class RDDCheckpointData[T: ClassTag](@transient rdd: RDD[T])
-  extends Logging with Serializable {
+private[spark] class RDDCheckpointData[T: ClassTag](
+    @transient rdd: RDD[T],
+    @transient saveAndReloadRDD: Option[RDD[T] => RDD[T]]
+  ) extends Logging with Serializable {
 
   import CheckpointState._
 
@@ -82,32 +86,46 @@ private[spark] class RDDCheckpointData[T: ClassTag](@transient rdd: RDD[T])
       }
     }
 
-    // Create the output path for the checkpoint
-    val path = new Path(rdd.context.checkpointDir.get, "rdd-" + rdd.id)
-    val fs = path.getFileSystem(rdd.context.hadoopConfiguration)
-    if (!fs.mkdirs(path)) {
-      throw new SparkException("Failed to create checkpoint path " + path)
-    }
+    if (saveAndReloadRDD.isEmpty) {
+      // Default implementation
+      // Create the output path for the checkpoint
+      val path = new Path(rdd.context.checkpointDir.get, "rdd-" + rdd.id)
+      val fs = path.getFileSystem(rdd.context.hadoopConfiguration)
+      if (!fs.mkdirs(path)) {
+        throw new SparkException("Failed to create checkpoint path " + path)
+      }
 
-    // Save to file, and reload it as an RDD
-    val broadcastedConf = rdd.context.broadcast(
-      new SerializableWritable(rdd.context.hadoopConfiguration))
-    rdd.context.runJob(rdd, CheckpointRDD.writeToFile[T](path.toString, broadcastedConf) _)
-    val newRDD = new CheckpointRDD[T](rdd.context, path.toString)
-    if (newRDD.partitions.size != rdd.partitions.size) {
-      throw new SparkException(
-        "Checkpoint RDD " + newRDD + "(" + newRDD.partitions.size + ") has different " +
-          "number of partitions than original RDD " + rdd + "(" + rdd.partitions.size + ")")
-    }
+      // Save to file, and reload it as an RDD
+      val broadcastedConf = rdd.context.broadcast(
+        new SerializableWritable(rdd.context.hadoopConfiguration))
+      rdd.context.runJob(rdd, CheckpointRDD.writeToFile[T](path.toString, broadcastedConf) _)
+      val newRDD = new CheckpointRDD[T](rdd.context, path.toString)
+      if (newRDD.partitions.size != rdd.partitions.size) {
+        throw new SparkException(
+          "Checkpoint RDD " + newRDD + "(" + newRDD.partitions.size + ") has different " +
+            "number of partitions than original RDD " + rdd + "(" + rdd.partitions.size + ")")
+      }
 
-    // Change the dependencies and partitions of the RDD
-    RDDCheckpointData.synchronized {
-      cpFile = Some(path.toString)
-      cpRDD = Some(newRDD)
-      rdd.markCheckpointed(newRDD)   // Update the RDD's dependencies and partitions
-      cpState = Checkpointed
+      // Change the dependencies and partitions of the RDD
+      RDDCheckpointData.synchronized {
+        cpFile = Some(path.toString)
+        cpRDD = Some(newRDD)
+        rdd.markCheckpointed(newRDD) // Update the RDD's dependencies and partitions
+        cpState = Checkpointed
+      }
+
+      logInfo(
+        "Done checkpointing RDD " + rdd.id + " to " + path + ", new parent is RDD " + newRDD.id)
+    } else {
+      val newRDD = saveAndReloadRDD.get(rdd)
+      RDDCheckpointData.synchronized {
+        cpRDD = Some(newRDD)
+        rdd.markCheckpointed(newRDD) // Update the RDD's dependencies and partitions
+        cpState = Checkpointed
+      }
+
+      logInfo("Done custom checkpointing RDD " + rdd.id + ", new parent is RDD " + newRDD.id)
     }
-    logInfo("Done checkpointing RDD " + rdd.id + " to " + path + ", new parent is RDD " + newRDD.id)
   }
 
   // Get preferred location of a split after checkpointing
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
index a41914a1a9d0c..e0d1ccea8ecdc 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/CheckpointSuite.scala
@@ -56,6 +56,16 @@ class CheckpointSuite extends FunSuite with LocalSparkContext with Logging {
     assert(flatMappedRDD.collect() === result)
   }
 
+  test("checkpointing with external function") {
+    val parCollection = sc.makeRDD(1 to 4)
+    val flatMappedRDD = parCollection.flatMap(x => 1 to x)
+    flatMappedRDD.checkpoint{ rdd => rdd.sparkContext.makeRDD(rdd.collect, rdd.partitions.size) }
+    assert(flatMappedRDD.dependencies.head.rdd == parCollection)
+    val result = flatMappedRDD.collect()
+    assert(flatMappedRDD.dependencies.head.rdd != parCollection)
+    assert(flatMappedRDD.collect() === result)
+  }
+
   test("RDDs with one-to-one dependencies") {
     testRDD(_.map(x => x.toString))
     testRDD(_.flatMap(x => 1 to x))