diff --git a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
index 2b6cf41fbcab1..57b0e326e5295 100644
--- a/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
+++ b/base/docs/helpdb/Base.jl
@@ -5358,6 +5358,14 @@ that directory will be recursively changed.
 """
 chmod
 
+"""
+    chown(path, owner, group=-1)
+
+Change the owner and/or group of `path` to `owner` and/or `group`. If the value entered for `owner` or `group`
+is `-1` the corresponding ID will not change. Only integer `owner`s and `group`s are currently supported.
+"""
+chown
+
 """
     gamma(x)
 
diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index fddbf6dc52da9..fd90c58ec353a 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -1274,6 +1274,7 @@ export
 # filesystem operations
     cd,
     chmod,
+    chown,
     cp,
     ctime,
     download,
diff --git a/base/file.jl b/base/file.jl
index 44a22c5698fcc..5663477661612 100644
--- a/base/file.jl
+++ b/base/file.jl
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 export
     cd,
     chmod,
+    chown,
     cp,
     cptree,
     mkdir,
@@ -450,3 +451,9 @@ function chmod(path::AbstractString, mode::Integer; recursive::Bool=false)
     end
     nothing
 end
+
+function chown(path::AbstractString, owner::Integer, group::Integer=-1)
+    err = ccall(:jl_fs_chown, Int32, (Cstring, Cint, Cint), path, owner, group)
+    uv_error("chown",err)
+    nothing
+end
diff --git a/doc/stdlib/file.rst b/doc/stdlib/file.rst
index af384c5a0b2d2..4b6f2cf9814a1 100644
--- a/doc/stdlib/file.rst
+++ b/doc/stdlib/file.rst
@@ -81,6 +81,12 @@
 
    Change the permissions mode of ``path`` to ``mode``\ . Only integer ``mode``\ s (e.g. ``0o777``\ ) are currently supported. If ``recursive=true`` and the path is a directory all permissions in that directory will be recursively changed.
 
+.. function:: chown(path, owner, group=-1)
+
+   .. Docstring generated from Julia source
+
+   Change the owner and/or group of ``path`` to ``owner`` and/or ``group``\ . If the value entered for ``owner`` or ``group`` is ``-1`` the corresponding ID will not change. Only integer ``owner``\ s and ``group``\ s are currently supported.
+
 .. function:: stat(file)
 
    .. Docstring generated from Julia source
diff --git a/src/jl_uv.c b/src/jl_uv.c
index c3a489dd58fb9..cc1d8bddc4492 100644
--- a/src/jl_uv.c
+++ b/src/jl_uv.c
@@ -306,6 +306,14 @@ JL_DLLEXPORT int jl_fs_chmod(char *path, int mode)
     return ret;
 }
 
+JL_DLLEXPORT int jl_fs_chown(char *path, int uid, int gid)
+{
+    uv_fs_t req;
+    int ret = uv_fs_chown(jl_io_loop, &req, path, uid, gid, NULL);
+    uv_fs_req_cleanup(&req);
+    return ret;
+}
+
 JL_DLLEXPORT int jl_fs_write(int handle, const char *data, size_t len,
                              int64_t offset)
 {
diff --git a/test/file.jl b/test/file.jl
index beeab44d4bd8e..b4dd503d8f6aa 100644
--- a/test/file.jl
+++ b/test/file.jl
@@ -156,6 +156,22 @@ rm(c_tmpdir, recursive=true)
 @test_throws Base.UVError rm(c_tmpdir, recursive=true)
 @test rm(c_tmpdir, force=true, recursive=true) === nothing
 
+# chown will give an error if the user does not have permissions to change files
+@unix_only if ENV["USER"] =="root"
+    chown(file, -2, -1)  # Change the file owner to nobody
+    @test stat(file).uid !=0
+    chown(file, 0, -2)  # Change the file group to nogroup (and owner back to root)
+    @test stat(file).gid !=0
+    @test stat(file).uid ==0
+    chown(file, -1, 0)
+    @test stat(file).gid ==0
+    @test stat(file).uid ==0
+else
+    @test_throws Base.UVError chown(file, -2, -1)  # Non-root user cannot change ownership to another user
+    @test_throws Base.UVError chown(file, -1, -2)  # Non-root user cannot change group to a group they are not a member of (eg: nogroup)
+end
+
+@windows_only @test chown(file, -2, -2) == nothing  # chown shouldn't cause any errors for Windows
 
 #######################################################################
 # This section tests file watchers.                                   #