diff --git a/src/bitops.c b/src/bitops.c
index 0b9c7b02f..2f62ccc46 100644
--- a/src/bitops.c
+++ b/src/bitops.c
@@ -159,6 +159,7 @@ void bitopCommand(redisClient *c) {
     char *opname = c->argv[1]->ptr;
     robj *o, *targetkey = c->argv[2];
     long op, j, numkeys;
+    robj **objects;      /* Array of soruce objects. */
     unsigned char **src; /* Array of source strings pointers. */
     long *len, maxlen = 0; /* Array of length of src strings, and max len. */
     unsigned char *res = NULL; /* Resulting string. */
@@ -187,22 +188,30 @@ void bitopCommand(redisClient *c) {
     numkeys = c->argc - 3;
     src = zmalloc(sizeof(unsigned char*) * numkeys);
     len = zmalloc(sizeof(long) * numkeys);
+    objects = zmalloc(sizeof(robj*) * numkeys);
     for (j = 0; j < numkeys; j++) {
         o = lookupKeyRead(c->db,c->argv[j+3]);
         /* Handle non-existing keys as empty strings. */
         if (o == NULL) {
+            objects[j] = NULL;
             src[j] = NULL;
             len[j] = 0;
             continue;
         }
         /* Return an error if one of the keys is not a string. */
         if (checkType(c,o,REDIS_STRING)) {
+            for (j = j-1; j >= 0; j--) {
+                if (objects[j])
+                    decrRefCount(objects[j]);
+            }
             zfree(src);
             zfree(len);
+            zfree(objects);
             return;
         }
-        src[j] = o->ptr;
-        len[j] = sdslen(o->ptr);
+        objects[j] = getDecodedObject(o);
+        src[j] = objects[j]->ptr;
+        len[j] = sdslen(objects[j]->ptr);
         if (len[j] > maxlen) maxlen = len[j];
     }
 
@@ -226,8 +235,13 @@ void bitopCommand(redisClient *c) {
             res[j] = output;
         }
     }
+    for (j = 0; j < numkeys; j++) {
+        if (objects[j])
+            decrRefCount(objects[j]);
+    }
     zfree(src);
     zfree(len);
+    zfree(objects);
 
     /* Store the computed value into the target key */
     if (maxlen) {
diff --git a/tests/unit/bitops.tcl b/tests/unit/bitops.tcl
index bc4799432..b7a76abb1 100644
--- a/tests/unit/bitops.tcl
+++ b/tests/unit/bitops.tcl
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ start_server {tags {"bitops"}} {
     } 0
 
     catch {unset num}
-    foreach vec [list "" "\xaa" "\x00\x00\xff" "foobar"] {
+    foreach vec [list "" "\xaa" "\x00\x00\xff" "foobar" "123"] {
         incr num
         test "BITCOUNT against test vector #$num" {
             r set str $vec
@@ -119,6 +119,7 @@ start_server {tags {"bitops"}} {
     foreach op {and or xor} {
         test "BITOP $op fuzzing" {
             for {set i 0} {$i < 10} {incr i} {
+                r flushall
                 set vec {}
                 set veckeys {}
                 set numvec [expr {[randomInt 10]+1}]
@@ -133,4 +134,20 @@ start_server {tags {"bitops"}} {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    test {BITOP with integer encoded source objects} {
+        r set a 1
+        r set b 2
+        r bitop xor dest a b a
+        r get dest
+    } {2}
+
+    test {BITOP with non string source key} {
+        r del c
+        r set a 1
+        r set b 2
+        r lpush c foo
+        catch {r bitop xor dest a b c d} e
+        set e
+    } {*ERR*}
 }