diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index adb28a2..c7b99b3 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -8,6 +8,10 @@ var assign = require('object-assign');
 module.exports = function (url, opts, cb) {
 	var redirectCount = 0;
 
+	// Extract got options.
+	var encoding = opts.encoding;
+	delete opts.encoding;
+
 	var get = function (url, opts, cb) {
 		if (typeof opts === 'function') {
 			cb = opts;
@@ -27,8 +31,6 @@ module.exports = function (url, opts, cb) {
 		var arg = assign({}, parsedUrl, opts);
 
 		fn.get(arg, function (res) {
-			var ret = '';
-
 			// redirect
 			if (res.statusCode < 400 && res.statusCode >= 300 && res.headers.location) {
 				res.destroy();
@@ -54,16 +56,29 @@ module.exports = function (url, opts, cb) {
 				res = unzip;
 			}
 
-			res.setEncoding('utf8');
+			res.once('error', cb);
 
-			res.on('data', function (data) {
-				ret += data;
-			});
+			var chunks = [];
+			var n = 0;
 
-			res.once('error', cb);
+			res.on('data', function (chunk) {
+				// Add the new chunk to the list.
+				chunks.push(chunk);
+				n += chunk.length;
+			});
 
 			res.once('end', function () {
-				cb(null, ret, res);
+				// Concatenate all chunks into a single buffer.
+				var data = Buffer.concat(chunks, n);
+
+				// Unless the encoding has been explicitely set to `null`,
+				// convert the buffer to a string.
+				if (encoding !== null) {
+					data = data.toString(encoding || 'utf8');
+				}
+
+				// Return the result.
+				cb(null, data, res);
 			});
 		}).once('error', cb);
 	};
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 2d658c5..7e60437 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ Type: `object`
 
 Any of the [`http.request`](http://nodejs.org/api/http.html#http_http_request_options_callback) options.
 
+##### options.encoding
+
+Type: `string` or `null`
+
+Encoding to be used on setEncoding of response data. If null, the body is returned as a Buffer.
+
 ##### callback(err, data, response)
 
 ###### data
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index d4a89d8..545628a 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -58,3 +58,11 @@ it('should support gzip', function (done) {
 		done();
 	});
 });
+
+it('should return a buffer if encoding is set to null', function (done) {
+	got('http://google.com', {encoding: null}, function (err, data) {
+		assert(!err, err);
+		assert.ok(Buffer.isBuffer(data));
+		done();
+	});
+});