diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/copy.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/copy.py
index f71ecadc77..40de82f4e3 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/copy.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/copy.py
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
                         rel_path = rel_path[1:]
                     source_files.append((full_path, rel_path))
 
+                # recurse into subdirs
+                for sf in sub_folders:
+                    source_files += self._get_recursive_files(os.path.join(source, to_text(sf)), sz=sz)
+
             # If it's recursive copy, destination is always a dir,
             # explicitly mark it so (note - copy module relies on this).
             if not self._connection._shell.path_has_trailing_slash(dest):
@@ -308,6 +312,22 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
 
         return result
 
+    def _get_recursive_files(self, topdir, sz=0):
+        ''' Recursively create file tuples for sub folders '''
+        r_files = []
+        for base_path, sub_folders, files in os.walk(to_bytes(topdir)):
+            for fname in files:
+                full_path = to_text(os.path.join(base_path, fname), errors='surrogate_or_strict')
+                rel_path = full_path[sz:]
+                if rel_path.startswith('/'):
+                    rel_path = rel_path[1:]
+                r_files.append((full_path, rel_path))
+
+                for sf in sub_folders:
+                    r_files += self._get_recursive_files(os.path.join(topdir, to_text(sf)), sz=sz)
+
+        return r_files
+
     def _create_content_tempfile(self, content):
         ''' Create a tempfile containing defined content '''
         fd, content_tempfile = tempfile.mkstemp()