diff --git a/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go b/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go
index 65a46d822..18281a536 100644
--- a/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go
+++ b/kyaml/kio/byteio_reader.go
@@ -67,12 +67,12 @@ func (rw *ByteReadWriter) Read() ([]*yaml.RNode, error) {
 		WrapBareSeqNode:       rw.WrapBareSeqNode,
 	}
 	val, err := b.Read()
+	rw.Results = b.Results
+
 	if rw.FunctionConfig == nil {
 		rw.FunctionConfig = b.FunctionConfig
 	}
-	rw.Results = b.Results
-
-	if !rw.NoWrap {
+	if !rw.NoWrap && rw.WrappingKind == "" {
 		rw.WrappingAPIVersion = b.WrappingAPIVersion
 		rw.WrappingKind = b.WrappingKind
 	}
@@ -80,15 +80,18 @@ func (rw *ByteReadWriter) Read() ([]*yaml.RNode, error) {
 }
 
 func (rw *ByteReadWriter) Write(nodes []*yaml.RNode) error {
-	return ByteWriter{
+	w := ByteWriter{
 		Writer:                rw.Writer,
 		KeepReaderAnnotations: rw.KeepReaderAnnotations,
 		Style:                 rw.Style,
 		FunctionConfig:        rw.FunctionConfig,
 		Results:               rw.Results,
-		WrappingAPIVersion:    rw.WrappingAPIVersion,
-		WrappingKind:          rw.WrappingKind,
-	}.Write(nodes)
+	}
+	if !rw.NoWrap {
+		w.WrappingAPIVersion = rw.WrappingAPIVersion
+		w.WrappingKind = rw.WrappingKind
+	}
+	return w.Write(nodes)
 }
 
 // ParseAll reads all of the inputs into resources
diff --git a/kyaml/kio/byteio_readwriter_test.go b/kyaml/kio/byteio_readwriter_test.go
index ce0c4e5c6..3f8d22c21 100644
--- a/kyaml/kio/byteio_readwriter_test.go
+++ b/kyaml/kio/byteio_readwriter_test.go
@@ -747,3 +747,122 @@ func TestByteReadWriter_WrapBareSeqNode(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestByteReadWriter_ResourceListWrapping(t *testing.T) {
+	singleDeployment := `kind: Deployment
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: tester
+  namespace: default
+spec:
+  replicas: 0`
+	resourceList := `apiVersion: config.kubernetes.io/v1
+kind: ResourceList
+items:
+- kind: Deployment
+  apiVersion: v1
+  metadata:
+    name: tester
+    namespace: default
+  spec:
+    replicas: 0`
+	resourceListWithError := `apiVersion: config.kubernetes.io/v1
+kind: ResourceList
+items:
+- kind: Deployment
+  apiVersion: v1
+  metadata:
+    name: tester
+    namespace: default
+  spec:
+    replicas: 0
+results:
+- message: some error
+  severity: error`
+	resourceListDifferentWrapper := strings.NewReplacer(
+		"kind: ResourceList", "kind: SomethingElse",
+		"apiVersion: config.kubernetes.io/v1", "apiVersion: fakeVersion",
+	).Replace(resourceList)
+
+	testCases := []struct {
+		desc           string
+		noWrap         bool
+		wrapKind       string
+		wrapAPIVersion string
+		input          string
+		want           string
+	}{
+		{
+			desc:  "resource list",
+			input: resourceList,
+			want:  resourceList,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:  "individual resources",
+			input: singleDeployment,
+			want:  singleDeployment,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:           "no nested wrapping",
+			wrapKind:       kio.ResourceListKind,
+			wrapAPIVersion: kio.ResourceListAPIVersion,
+			input:          resourceList,
+			want:           resourceList,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:   "unwrap resource list",
+			noWrap: true,
+			input:  resourceList,
+			want:   singleDeployment,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:           "wrap individual resources",
+			wrapKind:       kio.ResourceListKind,
+			wrapAPIVersion: kio.ResourceListAPIVersion,
+			input:          singleDeployment,
+			want:           resourceList,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:           "NoWrap has precedence",
+			noWrap:         true,
+			wrapKind:       kio.ResourceListKind,
+			wrapAPIVersion: kio.ResourceListAPIVersion,
+			input:          singleDeployment,
+			want:           singleDeployment,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:           "honor specified wrapping kind",
+			wrapKind:       "SomethingElse",
+			wrapAPIVersion: "fakeVersion",
+			input:          resourceList,
+			want:           resourceListDifferentWrapper,
+		},
+		{
+			desc:  "passthrough results",
+			input: resourceListWithError,
+			want:  resourceListWithError,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for i := range testCases {
+		tc := testCases[i]
+		t.Run(tc.desc, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var got bytes.Buffer
+			rw := kio.ByteReadWriter{
+				Reader:             strings.NewReader(tc.input),
+				Writer:             &got,
+				NoWrap:             tc.noWrap,
+				WrappingAPIVersion: tc.wrapAPIVersion,
+				WrappingKind:       tc.wrapKind,
+			}
+
+			rnodes, err := rw.Read()
+			assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+			err = rw.Write(rnodes)
+			assert.NoError(t, err)
+
+			assert.Equal(t, tc.want, strings.TrimSpace(got.String()))
+		})
+	}
+}