diff --git a/deluge/httpdownloader.py b/deluge/httpdownloader.py
index bb0144d77..c85cf1362 100644
--- a/deluge/httpdownloader.py
+++ b/deluge/httpdownloader.py
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ class HTTPDownloader(client.HTTPDownloader):
     """
     Factory class for downloading files and keeping track of progress.
     """
-    def __init__(self, url, filename, part_callback=None, headers=None, force_filename=False):
+    def __init__(self, url, filename, part_callback=None, headers=None, force_filename=False, allow_compression=True):
         """
         :param url: the url to download from
         :type url: string
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ class HTTPDownloader(client.HTTPDownloader):
         self.decoder = None
         self.value = filename
         self.force_filename = force_filename
+        self.allow_compression = allow_compression
         agent = "Deluge/%s (http://deluge-torrent.org)" % get_version()
         client.HTTPDownloader.__init__(self, url, filename, headers=headers, agent=agent)
 
@@ -76,7 +77,8 @@ class HTTPDownloader(client.HTTPDownloader):
             else:
                 self.total_length = 0
 
-            if "content-encoding" in headers and headers["content-encoding"][0] in ("gzip", "x-gzip", "deflate"):
+            if self.allow_compression and "content-encoding" in headers and \
+               headers["content-encoding"][0] in ("gzip", "x-gzip", "deflate"):
                 # Adding 32 to the wbits enables gzip & zlib decoding (with automatic header detection)
                 # Adding 16 just enables gzip decoding (no zlib)
                 self.decoder = zlib.decompressobj(zlib.MAX_WBITS + 32)
@@ -186,7 +188,7 @@ def download_file(url, filename, callback=None, headers=None, force_filename=Fal
         headers["accept-encoding"] = "gzip, deflate"
 
     scheme, host, port, path = client._parse(url)
-    factory = HTTPDownloader(url, filename, callback, headers, force_filename)
+    factory = HTTPDownloader(url, filename, callback, headers, force_filename, allow_compression)
     if scheme == "https":
         from twisted.internet import ssl
         reactor.connectSSL(host, port, factory, ssl.ClientContextFactory())
diff --git a/tests/test_httpdownloader.py b/tests/test_httpdownloader.py
index d86e74c51..33e08a486 100644
--- a/tests/test_httpdownloader.py
+++ b/tests/test_httpdownloader.py
@@ -17,6 +17,18 @@ class DownloadFileTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         f = open(filename)
         try:
             self.assertEqual(f.read(), contents)
+        except Exception, e:
+            self.fail(e)
+        finally:
+            f.close()
+        return filename
+
+    def failIfContains(self, filename, contents):
+        f = open(filename)
+        try:
+            self.failIfEqual(f.read(), contents)
+        except Exception, e:
+            self.fail(e)
         finally:
             f.close()
         return filename
@@ -75,6 +87,12 @@ class DownloadFileTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         d.addCallback(self.assertContains, "success")
         return d
 
+    def test_download_with_gzip_encoding_disabled(self):
+        url = "http://deluge-torrent.org/httpdownloader.php?test=gzip&msg=fail"
+        d = download_file(url, "gzip_encoded", allow_compression=False)
+        d.addCallback(self.failIfContains, "fail")
+        return d
+
     def test_page_redirect(self):
         url = "http://deluge-torrent.org/httpdownloader.php?test=redirect"
         d = download_file(url, "none")