diff -r d31b4de433b7 Modules/_io/winconsoleio.c
--- a/Modules/_io/winconsoleio.c	Tue Sep 20 23:00:59 2016 +0200
+++ b/Modules/_io/winconsoleio.c	Wed Sep 21 05:32:07 2016 +0000
@@ -513,12 +513,12 @@
     DWORD n = 0;
 
     while (self->buf[0] && len--) {
-        n += 1;
-        buf[0] = self->buf[0];
+        buf[n] = self->buf[0];
         self->buf[0] = self->buf[1];
         self->buf[1] = self->buf[2];
         self->buf[2] = self->buf[3];
         self->buf[3] = 0;
+        n += 1;
     }
 
     return n;
@@ -786,53 +786,72 @@
 
         PyMem_Free(subbuf);
 
-        /* when the read starts with ^Z or is empty we break */
-        if (n == 0 || buf[len] == '\x1a')
+        /* when the read is empty we break */
+         if (n == 0)
             break;
 
         len += n;
     }
 
-    if (len == 0 || buf[0] == '\x1a' && _buflen(self) == 0) {
-        /* when the result starts with ^Z we return an empty buffer */
+    rn = _buflen(self);
+
+    if (len == 0 && rn == 0) {
+        /* return an empty buffer */
         PyMem_Free(buf);
         return PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, 0);
     }
 
-    Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
-    bytes_size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, buf, len,
-        NULL, 0, NULL, NULL);
-    Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+    if (len == 0) {
+        bytes_size = rn;
+    } else {
+        Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+        bytes_size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, buf, len,
+            NULL, 0, NULL, NULL);
+        Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
 
-    if (!bytes_size) {
-        DWORD err = GetLastError();
+        if (!bytes_size) {
+            DWORD err = GetLastError();
+            PyMem_Free(buf);
+            return PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(err);
+        }
+        
+        bytes_size += rn;
+    }
+    
+    bytes = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, bytes_size);
+    if (!bytes) {
         PyMem_Free(buf);
-        return PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(err);
+        return NULL;
     }
 
-    bytes_size += _buflen(self);
-    bytes = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(NULL, bytes_size);
     rn = _copyfrombuf(self, PyBytes_AS_STRING(bytes), bytes_size);
 
-    Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
-    bytes_size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, buf, len,
-        &PyBytes_AS_STRING(bytes)[rn], bytes_size - rn, NULL, NULL);
-    Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
+    if (len == 0) {
+        bytes_size = rn;
+    } else {
+        Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS
+        bytes_size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, buf, len,
+            &PyBytes_AS_STRING(bytes)[rn], bytes_size - rn, NULL, NULL);
+        Py_END_ALLOW_THREADS
 
-    if (!bytes_size) {
-        DWORD err = GetLastError();
-        PyMem_Free(buf);
-        Py_CLEAR(bytes);
-        return PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(err);
+        if (!bytes_size) {
+            DWORD err = GetLastError();
+            PyMem_Free(buf);
+            Py_DECREF(bytes);
+            return PyErr_SetFromWindowsErr(err);
+        }
+
+        bytes_size += rn;
     }
 
     PyMem_Free(buf);
-    if (bytes_size < (size_t)PyBytes_GET_SIZE(bytes)) {
-        if (_PyBytes_Resize(&bytes, n * sizeof(wchar_t)) < 0) {
-            Py_CLEAR(bytes);
-            return NULL;
-        }
+
+    if (bytes_size < (size_t)PyBytes_GET_SIZE(bytes) &&
+        _PyBytes_Resize(&bytes, bytes_size) < 0) {
+        Py_DECREF(bytes);
+        return NULL;
     }
+
     return bytes;
 }