diff --git a/glance/async_/flows/plugins/image_conversion.py b/glance/async_/flows/plugins/image_conversion.py
index 32c7b7fe09..b74fea1f3d 100644
--- a/glance/async_/flows/plugins/image_conversion.py
+++ b/glance/async_/flows/plugins/image_conversion.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import json
 import os
+import sys
 
 from oslo_concurrency import processutils as putils
 from oslo_config import cfg
@@ -69,7 +70,7 @@ class _ConvertImage(task.Task):
         self.action_wrapper = action_wrapper
         self.image_id = action_wrapper.image_id
         self.dest_path = ""
-        self.python = CONF.wsgi.python_interpreter
+        self.python = CONF.wsgi.python_interpreter or sys.executable
         super(_ConvertImage, self).__init__(
             name='%s-Convert_Image-%s' % (task_type, task_id))
 
diff --git a/glance/common/config.py b/glance/common/config.py
index 5f7a02f4ca..59091422b2 100644
--- a/glance/common/config.py
+++ b/glance/common/config.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ Routines for configuring Glance
 
 import logging
 import os
-import sys
 
 from oslo_config import cfg
 from oslo_middleware import cors
@@ -641,13 +640,13 @@ may overwhelm other system resources such as disk or outbound network
 bandwidth. If this is too small, image import requests will have to wait
 until a thread becomes available to begin processing.""")),
     cfg.StrOpt('python_interpreter',
-               default=sys.executable,
+               default=None,
                help=_("""
 Path to the python interpreter to use when spawning external
-processes. By default this is sys.executable, which should be the
-same interpreter running Glance itself. However, in some situations
-(i.e. uwsgi) this may not actually point to a python interpreter
-itself.""")),
+processes. If left unspecified, this will be sys.executable, which should
+be the same interpreter running Glance itself. However, in some situations
+(for example, uwsgi) sys.executable may not actually point to a python
+interpreter and an alternative value must be set.""")),
 ]
 
 
diff --git a/glance/tests/unit/async_/flows/plugins/test_image_conversion.py b/glance/tests/unit/async_/flows/plugins/test_image_conversion.py
index eaa84f43db..c5ca29b56a 100644
--- a/glance/tests/unit/async_/flows/plugins/test_image_conversion.py
+++ b/glance/tests/unit/async_/flows/plugins/test_image_conversion.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import json
 import os
+import sys
 from unittest import mock
 
 import glance_store
@@ -264,3 +265,22 @@ class TestConvertImageTask(test_utils.BaseTestCase):
                 os_exists_mock.return_value = True
                 image_convert.revert(result=mock.MagicMock())
                 self.assertEqual(1, mock_os_remove.call_count)
+
+    def test_image_convert_interpreter_resolution(self):
+        # By default, wsgi.python_interpreter is None, which we should
+        # translate to sys.executable at runtime.
+        convert = image_conversion._ConvertImage(self.context,
+                                                 self.task.task_id,
+                                                 self.task_type,
+                                                 self.wrapper)
+        self.assertEqual(sys.executable, convert.python)
+
+        # If overridden, we should take the interpreter from config.
+        fake_interpreter = '/usr/bin/python2.7'
+        self.config(python_interpreter=fake_interpreter,
+                    group='wsgi')
+        convert = image_conversion._ConvertImage(self.context,
+                                                 self.task.task_id,
+                                                 self.task_type,
+                                                 self.wrapper)
+        self.assertEqual(fake_interpreter, convert.python)