diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 3d31fbc..aed91cd 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -85,9 +85,14 @@ function requestAsEventEmitter(opts) {
 			}
 
 			setImmediate(() => {
-				const response = typeof decompressResponse === 'function' &&
+				const response = opts.decompress === true &&
+					typeof decompressResponse === 'function' &&
 					req.method !== 'HEAD' ? decompressResponse(res) : res;
 
+				if (!opts.decompress && ['gzip', 'deflate'].indexOf(res.headers['content-encoding']) !== -1) {
+					opts.encoding = null;
+				}
+
 				response.redirectUrls = redirects;
 
 				ee.emit('response', response);
@@ -280,6 +285,7 @@ function normalizeArguments(url, opts) {
 		{
 			path: '',
 			retries: 2,
+			decompress: true,
 			useElectronNet: true
 		},
 		url,
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index e3219f1..bdff9c6 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -152,6 +152,15 @@ Defines if redirect responses should be followed automatically.
 Note that if a `303` is sent by the server in response to any request type (`POST`, `DELETE`, etc.), got will automatically
 request the resource pointed to in the location header via `GET`. This is in accordance with [the spec](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-6.4.4).
 
+###### decompress
+
+Type: `boolean`<br>
+Default: `true`
+
+Decompress the response automatically.
+
+If this is disabled, a compressed response is returned as a `Buffer`. This may be useful if you want to handle decompression yourself or stream the raw compressed data.
+
 ###### useElectronNet
 
 Type: `boolean`<br>
diff --git a/test/gzip.js b/test/gzip.js
index 1ec90b5..5033509 100644
--- a/test/gzip.js
+++ b/test/gzip.js
@@ -1,15 +1,19 @@
 import zlib from 'zlib';
 import test from 'ava';
 import getStream from 'get-stream';
+import pify from 'pify';
 import got from '..';
 import {createServer} from './helpers/server';
 
 const testContent = 'Compressible response content.\n';
+const testContentUncompressed = 'Uncompressed response content.\n';
 
 let s;
+let gzipData;
 
 test.before('setup', async () => {
 	s = await createServer();
+	gzipData = await pify(zlib.gzip)(testContent);
 
 	s.on('/', (req, res) => {
 		res.statusCode = 200;
@@ -21,7 +25,7 @@ test.before('setup', async () => {
 			return;
 		}
 
-		zlib.gzip(testContent, (_, data) => res.end(data));
+		res.end(gzipData);
 	});
 
 	s.on('/corrupted', (req, res) => {
@@ -35,7 +39,13 @@ test.before('setup', async () => {
 		res.statusCode = 200;
 		res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
 		res.setHeader('Content-Encoding', 'gzip');
-		zlib.gzip(testContent, (_, data) => res.end(data.slice(0, -1)));
+		res.end(gzipData.slice(0, -1));
+	});
+
+	s.on('/uncompressed', (req, res) => {
+		res.statusCode = 200;
+		res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain');
+		res.end(testContentUncompressed);
 	});
 
 	await s.listen(s.port);
@@ -56,6 +66,16 @@ test('handles gzip error', async t => {
 	t.is(err.name, 'ReadError');
 });
 
+test('decompress option opts out of decompressing', async t => {
+	const response = await got(s.url, {decompress: false});
+	t.true(Buffer.compare(response.body, gzipData) === 0);
+});
+
+test('decompress option doesn\'t alter encoding of uncompressed responses', async t => {
+	const response = await got(`${s.url}/uncompressed`, {decompress: false});
+	t.is(response.body, testContentUncompressed);
+});
+
 test('preserve headers property', async t => {
 	t.truthy((await got(s.url)).headers);
 });