diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCache.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCache.java
index da0920bd8cf31e..8d09d7aed962e8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCache.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCache.java
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ public void onFailure(Throwable t) {
    * @throws IOException in case of a cache miss or if the remote cache is unavailable.
    * @throws ExecException in case clean up after a failed download failed.
    */
-  public void download(ActionResult result, Path execRoot, FileOutErr outErr)
+  public void download(ActionResult result, Path execRoot, FileOutErr origOutErr)
       throws ExecException, IOException, InterruptedException {
     ActionResultMetadata metadata = parseActionResultMetadata(result, execRoot);
 
@@ -197,8 +197,12 @@ public void download(ActionResult result, Path execRoot, FileOutErr outErr)
 
     IOException downloadException = null;
     InterruptedException interruptedException = null;
+    FileOutErr tmpOutErr = null;
     try {
-      downloads.addAll(downloadOutErr(result, outErr));
+      if (origOutErr != null) {
+        tmpOutErr = origOutErr.childOutErr();
+      }
+      downloads.addAll(downloadOutErr(result, tmpOutErr));
     } catch (IOException e) {
       downloadException = e;
     }
@@ -228,9 +232,9 @@ public void download(ActionResult result, Path execRoot, FileOutErr outErr)
           // directories will not be re-created
           execRoot.getRelative(directory.getPath()).deleteTreesBelow();
         }
-        if (outErr != null) {
-          outErr.getOutputPath().delete();
-          outErr.getErrorPath().delete();
+        if (tmpOutErr != null) {
+          tmpOutErr.clearOut();
+          tmpOutErr.clearErr();
         }
       } catch (IOException e) {
         // If deleting of output files failed, we abort the build with a decent error message as
@@ -254,6 +258,12 @@ public void download(ActionResult result, Path execRoot, FileOutErr outErr)
       throw downloadException;
     }
 
+    if (tmpOutErr != null) {
+      FileOutErr.dump(tmpOutErr, origOutErr);
+      tmpOutErr.clearOut();
+      tmpOutErr.clearErr();
+    }
+
     List<SymlinkMetadata> symlinksInDirectories = new ArrayList<>();
     for (Entry<Path, DirectoryMetadata> entry : metadata.directories()) {
       entry.getKey().createDirectoryAndParents();
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCacheTests.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCacheTests.java
index 150289bab3c492..fd63ab88f69a86 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCacheTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/AbstractRemoteActionCacheTests.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.eq;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.when;
 
 import build.bazel.remote.execution.v2.Action;
 import build.bazel.remote.execution.v2.ActionResult;
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
 import org.junit.runners.JUnit4;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
 
 /** Tests for {@link AbstractRemoteActionCache}. */
 @RunWith(JUnit4.class)
@@ -689,6 +691,87 @@ public void onErrorWaitForRemainingDownloadsToComplete() throws Exception {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testDownloadWithStdoutStderrOnSuccess() throws Exception {
+    // Tests that fetching stdout/stderr as a digest works and that OutErr is still
+    // writable afterwards.
+    Path stdout = fs.getPath("/execroot/stdout");
+    Path stderr = fs.getPath("/execroot/stderr");
+    FileOutErr outErr = new FileOutErr(stdout, stderr);
+    FileOutErr childOutErr = outErr.childOutErr();
+    FileOutErr spyOutErr = Mockito.spy(outErr);
+    FileOutErr spyChildOutErr = Mockito.spy(childOutErr);
+    when(spyOutErr.childOutErr()).thenReturn(spyChildOutErr);
+
+    DefaultRemoteActionCache cache = newTestCache();
+    Digest digestStdout = cache.addContents("stdout");
+    Digest digestStderr = cache.addContents("stderr");
+
+    ActionResult result =
+        ActionResult.newBuilder()
+            .setExitCode(0)
+            .setStdoutDigest(digestStdout)
+            .setStderrDigest(digestStderr)
+            .build();
+
+    cache.download(result, execRoot, spyOutErr);
+
+    verify(spyOutErr, Mockito.times(2)).childOutErr();
+    verify(spyChildOutErr).clearOut();
+    verify(spyChildOutErr).clearErr();
+    assertThat(outErr.getOutputPath().exists()).isTrue();
+    assertThat(outErr.getErrorPath().exists()).isTrue();
+
+    try {
+      outErr.getOutputStream().write(0);
+      outErr.getErrorStream().write(0);
+    } catch (IOException err) {
+      throw new AssertionError("outErr should still be writable after download finished.", err);
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testDownloadWithStdoutStderrOnFailure() throws Exception {
+    // Test that when downloading stdout/stderr fails the OutErr is still writable
+    // and empty.
+    Path stdout = fs.getPath("/execroot/stdout");
+    Path stderr = fs.getPath("/execroot/stderr");
+    FileOutErr outErr = new FileOutErr(stdout, stderr);
+    FileOutErr childOutErr = outErr.childOutErr();
+    FileOutErr spyOutErr = Mockito.spy(outErr);
+    FileOutErr spyChildOutErr = Mockito.spy(childOutErr);
+    when(spyOutErr.childOutErr()).thenReturn(spyChildOutErr);
+
+    DefaultRemoteActionCache cache = newTestCache();
+    // Don't add stdout/stderr as a known blob to the remote cache so that downloading it will fail
+    Digest digestStdout = digestUtil.computeAsUtf8("stdout");
+    Digest digestStderr = digestUtil.computeAsUtf8("stderr");
+
+    ActionResult result =
+        ActionResult.newBuilder()
+            .setExitCode(0)
+            .setStdoutDigest(digestStdout)
+            .setStderrDigest(digestStderr)
+            .build();
+    try {
+      cache.download(result, execRoot, spyOutErr);
+      fail("Expected IOException");
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      verify(spyOutErr, Mockito.times(2)).childOutErr();
+      verify(spyChildOutErr).clearOut();
+      verify(spyChildOutErr).clearErr();
+      assertThat(outErr.getOutputPath().exists()).isFalse();
+      assertThat(outErr.getErrorPath().exists()).isFalse();
+
+      try {
+        outErr.getOutputStream().write(0);
+        outErr.getErrorStream().write(0);
+      } catch (IOException err) {
+        throw new AssertionError("outErr should still be writable after download failed.", err);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testDownloadMinimalFiles() throws Exception {
     // Test that injecting the metadata for a remote output file works