diff --git a/libsmartcols/docs/libsmartcols-sections.txt b/libsmartcols/docs/libsmartcols-sections.txt
index e72637add..974123540 100644
--- a/libsmartcols/docs/libsmartcols-sections.txt
+++ b/libsmartcols/docs/libsmartcols-sections.txt
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ scols_table_add_line
 scols_table_colors_wanted
 scols_table_enable_ascii
 scols_table_enable_colors
+scols_table_enable_noencoding
 scols_table_enable_export
 scols_table_enable_header_repeat
 scols_table_enable_json
@@ -140,6 +141,7 @@ scols_table_is_header_repeat
 scols_table_is_json
 scols_table_is_maxout
 scols_table_is_noheadings
+scols_table_is_noencoding
 scols_table_is_nolinesep
 scols_table_is_nowrap
 scols_table_is_raw
diff --git a/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.h.in b/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.h.in
index bce2cc725..d99d52ba0 100644
--- a/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.h.in
+++ b/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.h.in
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ extern int scols_table_is_maxout(const struct libscols_table *tb);
 extern int scols_table_is_nowrap(const struct libscols_table *tb);
 extern int scols_table_is_nolinesep(const struct libscols_table *tb);
 extern int scols_table_is_tree(const struct libscols_table *tb);
+extern int scols_table_is_noencoding(const struct libscols_table *tb);
 
 extern int scols_table_enable_colors(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable);
 extern int scols_table_enable_raw(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable);
@@ -237,6 +238,7 @@ extern int scols_table_enable_export(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable);
 extern int scols_table_enable_maxout(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable);
 extern int scols_table_enable_nowrap(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable);
 extern int scols_table_enable_nolinesep(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable);
+extern int scols_table_enable_noencoding(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable);
 
 extern int scols_table_set_column_separator(struct libscols_table *tb, const char *sep);
 extern int scols_table_set_line_separator(struct libscols_table *tb, const char *sep);
diff --git a/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.sym b/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.sym
index fec33cbfd..a4ac39cc9 100644
--- a/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.sym
+++ b/libsmartcols/src/libsmartcols.sym
@@ -173,4 +173,6 @@ SMARTCOLS_2.31 {
 	scols_table_get_termheight;
 	scols_table_is_header_repeat;
 	scols_table_enable_header_repeat;
+	scols_table_enable_noencoding;
+	scols_table_is_noencoding;
 } SMARTCOLS_2.30;
diff --git a/libsmartcols/src/smartcolsP.h b/libsmartcols/src/smartcolsP.h
index 65009779a..b3b54cddd 100644
--- a/libsmartcols/src/smartcolsP.h
+++ b/libsmartcols/src/smartcolsP.h
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ struct libscols_table {
 			header_printed  :1,	/* header already printed */
 			priv_symbols	:1,	/* default private symbols */
 			no_headings	:1,	/* don't print header */
+			no_encode	:1,	/* don't care about control and non-printable chars */
 			no_linesep	:1,	/* don't print line separator */
 			no_wrap		:1;	/* never wrap lines */
 };
diff --git a/libsmartcols/src/table.c b/libsmartcols/src/table.c
index 3306ff57c..81f4b8f2b 100644
--- a/libsmartcols/src/table.c
+++ b/libsmartcols/src/table.c
@@ -1106,6 +1106,39 @@ int scols_table_is_nowrap(const struct libscols_table *tb)
 	return tb->no_wrap;
 }
 
+/**
+ * scols_table_enable_noencoding:
+ * @tb: table
+ * @enable: 1 or 0
+ *
+ * The library encode non-printable and control chars by \x<hex> by default.
+ *
+ * Returns: 0 on success, negative number in case of an error.
+ *
+ * Since: 2.31
+ */
+int scols_table_enable_noencoding(struct libscols_table *tb, int enable)
+{
+	if (!tb)
+		return -EINVAL;
+	DBG(TAB, ul_debugobj(tb, "encoding: %s", enable ? "ENABLE" : "DISABLE"));
+	tb->no_encode = enable ? 1 : 0;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ * scols_table_is_noencoding:
+ * @tb: a pointer to a struct libscols_table instance
+ *
+ * Returns: 1 if encoding is disabled.
+ *
+ * Since: 2.31
+ */
+int scols_table_is_noencoding(const struct libscols_table *tb)
+{
+	return tb->no_encode;
+}
+
 /**
  * scols_table_colors_wanted:
  * @tb: table
diff --git a/libsmartcols/src/table_print.c b/libsmartcols/src/table_print.c
index 115212101..472c3616c 100644
--- a/libsmartcols/src/table_print.c
+++ b/libsmartcols/src/table_print.c
@@ -132,7 +132,9 @@ static char *buffer_get_data(struct libscols_buffer *buf)
 }
 
 /* encode data by mbs_safe_encode() to avoid control and non-printable chars */
-static char *buffer_get_safe_data(struct libscols_buffer *buf, size_t *cells,
+static char *buffer_get_safe_data(struct libscols_table *tb,
+				  struct libscols_buffer *buf,
+				  size_t *cells,
 				  const char *safechars)
 {
 	char *data = buffer_get_data(buf);
@@ -147,7 +149,14 @@ static char *buffer_get_safe_data(struct libscols_buffer *buf, size_t *cells,
 			goto nothing;
 	}
 
-	res = mbs_safe_encode_to_buffer(data, cells, buf->encdata, safechars);
+	if (tb->no_encode) {
+		*cells = mbs_safe_width(data);
+		strcpy(buf->encdata, data);
+		res = buf->encdata;
+	} else {
+		res = mbs_safe_encode_to_buffer(data, cells, buf->encdata, safechars);
+	}
+
 	if (!res || !*cells || *cells == (size_t) -1)
 		goto nothing;
 	return res;
@@ -251,7 +260,7 @@ static void print_empty_cell(struct libscols_table *tb,
 				line_ascii_art_to_buffer(tb, ln, art);
 				if (!list_empty(&ln->ln_branch) && has_pending_data(tb))
 					buffer_append_data(art, vertical_symbol(tb));
-				data = buffer_get_safe_data(art, &len_pad, NULL);
+				data = buffer_get_safe_data(tb, art, &len_pad, NULL);
 				if (data && len_pad)
 					fputs(data, tb->out);
 				free_buffer(art);
@@ -475,7 +484,7 @@ static int print_data(struct libscols_table *tb,
 
 	/* Encode. Note that 'len' and 'width' are number of cells, not bytes.
 	 */
-	data = buffer_get_safe_data(buf, &len, scols_column_get_safechars(cl));
+	data = buffer_get_safe_data(tb, buf, &len, scols_column_get_safechars(cl));
 	if (!data)
 		data = "";
 	bytes = strlen(data);
@@ -763,21 +772,30 @@ static int print_title(struct libscols_table *tb)
 	DBG(TAB, ul_debugobj(tb, "printing title"));
 
 	/* encode data */
-	bufsz = mbs_safe_encode_size(strlen(tb->title.data)) + 1;
-	if (bufsz == 1) {
-		DBG(TAB, ul_debugobj(tb, "title is empty string -- ignore"));
-		return 0;
-	}
-	buf = malloc(bufsz);
-	if (!buf) {
-		rc = -ENOMEM;
-		goto done;
-	}
+	if (tb->no_encode) {
+		bufsz = strlen(tb->title.data) + 1;
+		buf = strdup(tb->title.data);
+		if (!buf) {
+			rc = -ENOMEM;
+			goto done;
+		}
+	} else {
+		bufsz = mbs_safe_encode_size(strlen(tb->title.data)) + 1;
+		if (bufsz == 1) {
+			DBG(TAB, ul_debugobj(tb, "title is empty string -- ignore"));
+			return 0;
+		}
+		buf = malloc(bufsz);
+		if (!buf) {
+			rc = -ENOMEM;
+			goto done;
+		}
 
-	if (!mbs_safe_encode_to_buffer(tb->title.data, &bufsz, buf, NULL) ||
-	    !bufsz || bufsz == (size_t) -1) {
-		rc = -EINVAL;
-		goto done;
+		if (!mbs_safe_encode_to_buffer(tb->title.data, &bufsz, buf, NULL) ||
+		    !bufsz || bufsz == (size_t) -1) {
+			rc = -EINVAL;
+			goto done;
+		}
 	}
 
 	/* truncate and align */