diff --git a/htmlmin/main.py b/htmlmin/main.py
index 43a9bab..fa3923c 100644
--- a/htmlmin/main.py
+++ b/htmlmin/main.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ def minify(input,
            reduce_empty_attributes=True,
            reduce_boolean_attributes=False,
            remove_optional_attribute_quotes=True,
+           escape_tags=True,
            keep_pre=False,
            pre_tags=parser.PRE_TAGS,
            pre_attr='pre'):
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ def minify(input,
       reduce_empty_attributes=reduce_empty_attributes,
       reduce_boolean_attributes=reduce_boolean_attributes,
       remove_optional_attribute_quotes=remove_optional_attribute_quotes,
+      escape_tags=escape_tags,
       keep_pre=keep_pre,
       pre_tags=pre_tags,
       pre_attr=pre_attr)
@@ -118,6 +120,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                reduce_empty_attributes=True,
                reduce_boolean_attributes=False,
                remove_optional_attribute_quotes=True,
+               escape_tags=True,
                keep_pre=False,
                pre_tags=parser.PRE_TAGS,
                pre_attr='pre'):
@@ -132,6 +135,7 @@ def __init__(self,
       reduce_empty_attributes=reduce_empty_attributes,
       reduce_boolean_attributes=reduce_boolean_attributes,
       remove_optional_attribute_quotes=remove_optional_attribute_quotes,
+      escape_tags=escape_tags,
       keep_pre=keep_pre,
       pre_tags=pre_tags,
       pre_attr=pre_attr)
diff --git a/htmlmin/parser.py b/htmlmin/parser.py
index 5ff2211..9114301 100644
--- a/htmlmin/parser.py
+++ b/htmlmin/parser.py
@@ -80,6 +80,9 @@
 # Tag omission rules:
 # http://www.w3.org/TR/html51/syntax.html#optional-tags
 
+def escape_noop(v, **kwargs):
+    return v
+
 class HTMLMinError(Exception): pass
 class ParseError(HTMLMinError): pass
 class OpenTagNotFoundError(ParseError): pass
@@ -92,6 +95,7 @@ def __init__(self,
                reduce_empty_attributes=True,
                reduce_boolean_attributes=False,
                remove_optional_attribute_quotes=True,
+               escape_tags=True,
                keep_pre=False,
                pre_tags=PRE_TAGS,
                pre_attr='pre'):
@@ -113,6 +117,10 @@ def __init__(self,
     self._tag_stack = []
     self._title_newly_opened = False
     self.__title_trailing_whitespace = False
+    if escape_tags:
+      self.escape = escape
+    else:
+      self.escape = escape_noop
 
   def _has_pre(self, attrs):
     for k,v in attrs:
@@ -123,11 +131,11 @@ def _has_pre(self, attrs):
   def build_tag(self, tag, attrs, close_tag):
     result = StringIO()
     result.write('<')
-    result.write(escape(tag))
+    result.write(self.escape(tag))
     needs_closing_space = False
     for k,v in attrs:
       result.write(' ')
-      result.write(escape(k))
+      result.write(self.escape(k))
       if v:
         if self.reduce_boolean_attributes and (
              k in BOOLEAN_ATTRIBUTES.get(tag,[]) or
@@ -135,12 +143,14 @@ def build_tag(self, tag, attrs, close_tag):
           pass
         elif self.remove_optional_attribute_quotes and not any((c in v for c in ('"', "'", ' ', '<', '>', '='))):
           result.write('=')
-          result.write(escape(v, quote=True))
+          result.write(self.escape(v, quote=True))
           needs_closing_space = v.endswith('/')
         else:
-          result.write('="')
-          result.write(escape(v, quote=True).replace('&#x27;', "'"))
-          result.write('"')
+          attr_val = self.escape(v, quote=True).replace("'", '&#x27;')
+          if '"' in attr_val:
+            result.write("='{}'".format(attr_val))
+          else:
+            result.write('="{}"'.format(attr_val))
       elif not self.reduce_empty_attributes:
         result.write('=""')
     if needs_closing_space:
@@ -256,7 +266,7 @@ def handle_endtag(self, tag):
         # results in a '<p></p>' in Chrome.
         pass
     if tag not in NO_CLOSE_TAGS:
-      self._data_buffer.extend(['</', escape(tag), '>'])
+      self._data_buffer.extend(['</', self.escape(tag), '>'])
 
   def handle_startendtag(self, tag, attrs):
     self._after_doctype = False
diff --git a/htmlmin/tests/tests.py b/htmlmin/tests/tests.py
index 431061f..4d769c0 100644
--- a/htmlmin/tests/tests.py
+++ b/htmlmin/tests/tests.py
@@ -69,6 +69,14 @@
 }
 
 FEATURES_TEXTS = {
+  'escape_tags_true': (
+    '<body  >  <a href="http://example.com/?hello=world&foo=bar" >hello</a></  body>  ',
+    '<body> <a href="http://example.com/?hello=world&amp;foo=bar">hello</a></body> ',
+  ),
+  'escape_tags_false': (
+    '<body  >  <a href="http://example.com/?hello=world&foo=bar" >hello</a></  body>  ',
+    '<body> <a href="http://example.com/?hello=world&foo=bar">hello</a></body> ',
+  ),
   'remove_quotes': (
     '<body  >  <div id="x" style="   abc " data-a=b></div></  body>  ',
     '<body> <div id=x style="   abc " data-a=b></div></body> ',
@@ -342,6 +350,14 @@ def test_buffered_input(self):
 class TestMinifyFeatures(HTMLMinTestCase):
   __reference_texts__ = FEATURES_TEXTS
 
+  def test_escape_tags_true(self):
+    text = self.__reference_texts__['escape_tags_true']
+    self.assertEqual(htmlmin.minify(text[0], escape_tags=True), text[1])
+
+  def test_escape_tags_false(self):
+    text = self.__reference_texts__['escape_tags_false']
+    self.assertEqual(htmlmin.minify(text[0], escape_tags=False), text[1])
+
   def test_remove_comments(self):
     text = self.__reference_texts__['remove_comments']
     self.assertEqual(htmlmin.minify(text[0], remove_comments=True), text[1])