diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Output/ConsoleOutput.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Output/ConsoleOutput.php
index ff02f86943..966fca0994 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Output/ConsoleOutput.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Output/ConsoleOutput.php
@@ -41,6 +41,13 @@ class ConsoleOutput extends StreamOutput implements ConsoleOutputInterface
     {
         parent::__construct($this->openOutputStream(), $verbosity, $decorated, $formatter);
 
+        if (null === $formatter) {
+            // for BC reasons, stdErr has it own Formatter only when user don't inject a specific formatter.
+            $this->stderr = new StreamOutput($this->openErrorStream(), $verbosity, $decorated);
+
+            return;
+        }
+
         $actualDecorated = $this->isDecorated();
         $this->stderr = new StreamOutput($this->openErrorStream(), $verbosity, $decorated, $this->getFormatter());
 
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Output/ConsoleOutputTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Output/ConsoleOutputTest.php
index db39a02b8a..33a5371d6e 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Output/ConsoleOutputTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Console/Tests/Output/ConsoleOutputTest.php
@@ -18,11 +18,19 @@ use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\Output;
 
 class ConsoleOutputTest extends TestCase
 {
-    public function testConstructor()
+    public function testConstructorWithoutFormatter()
     {
         $output = new ConsoleOutput(Output::VERBOSITY_QUIET, true);
         $this->assertEquals(Output::VERBOSITY_QUIET, $output->getVerbosity(), '__construct() takes the verbosity as its first argument');
-        $this->assertSame($output->getFormatter(), $output->getErrorOutput()->getFormatter(), '__construct() takes a formatter or null as the third argument');
+        $this->assertNotSame($output->getFormatter(), $output->getErrorOutput()->getFormatter(), 'ErrorOutput should use it own formatter');
+    }
+
+    public function testConstructorWithFormatter()
+    {
+        $output = new ConsoleOutput(Output::VERBOSITY_QUIET, true, $formatter = new OutputFormatter());
+        $this->assertEquals(Output::VERBOSITY_QUIET, $output->getVerbosity(), '__construct() takes the verbosity as its first argument');
+        $this->assertSame($formatter, $output->getFormatter());
+        $this->assertSame($formatter, $output->getErrorOutput()->getFormatter(), 'Output and ErrorOutput should use the same provided formatter');
     }
 
     public function testSetFormatter()
@@ -31,6 +39,7 @@ class ConsoleOutputTest extends TestCase
         $outputFormatter = new OutputFormatter();
         $output->setFormatter($outputFormatter);
         $this->assertSame($outputFormatter, $output->getFormatter());
+        $this->assertSame($outputFormatter, $output->getErrorOutput()->getFormatter());
     }
 
     public function testSetVerbosity()