diff --git a/Lib/codecs.py b/Lib/codecs.py
index 40f0a2e2262..0b43a72d709 100644
--- a/Lib/codecs.py
+++ b/Lib/codecs.py
@@ -299,6 +299,17 @@ class StreamReader(Codec):
         """
         pass
 
+    def next(self):
+
+        """ Return the next decoded line from the input stream."""
+        line = self.readline()
+        if line:
+            return line
+        raise StopIteration
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self
+
     def __getattr__(self, name,
                     getattr=getattr):
 
@@ -351,6 +362,14 @@ class StreamReaderWriter:
 
         return self.reader.readlines(sizehint)
 
+    def next(self):
+
+        """ Return the next decoded line from the input stream."""
+        return self.reader.next()
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self
+
     def write(self, data):
 
         return self.writer.write(data)
@@ -451,6 +470,14 @@ class StreamRecoder:
         data, bytesencoded = self.encode(data, self.errors)
         return data.splitlines(1)
 
+    def next(self):
+
+        """ Return the next decoded line from the input stream."""
+        return self.reader.next()
+
+    def __iter__(self):
+        return self
+
     def write(self, data):
 
         data, bytesdecoded = self.decode(data, self.errors)
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index cccaff546c3..4fc52ea5694 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -362,6 +362,9 @@ Extension modules
 Library
 -------
 
+- StreamReader, StreamReaderWriter and StreamRecoder in the codecs
+  modules are iterators now.
+
 - gzip.py now handles files exceeding 2GB.  Files over 4GB also work
   now (provided the OS supports it, and Python is configured with large
   file support), but in that case the underlying gzip file format can