diff --git a/Readme.md b/Readme.md
index 6d4271a..4c72aa2 100644
--- a/Readme.md
+++ b/Readme.md
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ These are keys in the options object you can pass to the progress bar along with
 - `incomplete` incomplete character defaulting to "-"
 - `renderThrottle` minimum time between updates in milliseconds defaulting to 16
 - `clear` option to clear the bar on completion defaulting to false
+- `forceTTY` optional boolean (true|false) to force stderr to be TTY. This allows the bar output to be redirected or use tee.
 - `callback` optional function to call when the progress bar completes
 
 ### Tokens
diff --git a/lib/node-progress.js b/lib/node-progress.js
index 2b62641..3397bec 100644
--- a/lib/node-progress.js
+++ b/lib/node-progress.js
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ exports = module.exports = ProgressBar;
  *   - `renderThrottle` minimum time between updates in milliseconds defaulting to 16
  *   - `callback` optional function to call when the progress bar completes
  *   - `clear` will clear the progress bar upon termination
+ *   - `forceTTY` - optional boolean (true|false) to force stderr to be TTY. This 
+ *          allows the bar output to be redirected or use tee.
  *
  * Tokens:
  *
@@ -45,6 +47,14 @@ exports = module.exports = ProgressBar;
 function ProgressBar(fmt, options) {
   this.stream = options.stream || process.stderr;
 
+  if (options.forceTTY === true) { // only works for stderr
+    var tty = require('tty').WriteStream.prototype;
+    Object.getOwnPropertyNames(tty).forEach(function (key) {
+      process.stderr[key] = tty[key];
+    });
+    process.stderr.columns = 80; // columns
+  } 
+
   if (typeof(options) == 'number') {
     var total = options;
     options = {};