diff --git a/src/pkg/bytes/bytes.go b/src/pkg/bytes/bytes.go
index 5119fce949e..ea6bf5ec20e 100644
--- a/src/pkg/bytes/bytes.go
+++ b/src/pkg/bytes/bytes.go
@@ -572,13 +572,18 @@ func Runes(s []byte) []int {
 // non-overlapping instances of old replaced by new.
 // If n < 0, there is no limit on the number of replacements.
 func Replace(s, old, new []byte, n int) []byte {
-	if n == 0 {
-		return s // avoid allocation
+	m := 0
+	if n != 0 {
+		// Compute number of replacements.
+		m = Count(s, old)
 	}
-	// Compute number of replacements.
-	if m := Count(s, old); m == 0 {
-		return s // avoid allocation
-	} else if n <= 0 || m < n {
+	if m == 0 {
+		// Nothing to do. Just copy.
+		t := make([]byte, len(s))
+		copy(t, s)
+		return t
+	}
+	if n < 0 || m < n {
 		n = m
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/pkg/bytes/bytes_test.go b/src/pkg/bytes/bytes_test.go
index 9444358a858..1679279d363 100644
--- a/src/pkg/bytes/bytes_test.go
+++ b/src/pkg/bytes/bytes_test.go
@@ -829,9 +829,15 @@ var ReplaceTests = []ReplaceTest{
 
 func TestReplace(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, tt := range ReplaceTests {
-		if s := string(Replace([]byte(tt.in), []byte(tt.old), []byte(tt.new), tt.n)); s != tt.out {
+		in := append([]byte(tt.in), []byte("<spare>")...)
+		in = in[:len(tt.in)]
+		out := Replace(in, []byte(tt.old), []byte(tt.new), tt.n)
+		if s := string(out); s != tt.out {
 			t.Errorf("Replace(%q, %q, %q, %d) = %q, want %q", tt.in, tt.old, tt.new, tt.n, s, tt.out)
 		}
+		if cap(in) == cap(out) && &in[:1][0] == &out[:1][0] {
+			t.Errorf("Replace(%q, %q, %q, %d) didn't copy", tt.in, tt.old, tt.new, tt.n)
+		}
 	}
 }