diff --git a/lib/httparty/request.rb b/lib/httparty/request.rb
index 1ee3387..b50ce60 100644
--- a/lib/httparty/request.rb
+++ b/lib/httparty/request.rb
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ module HTTParty
         end
       end
 
-      handle_deflation unless http_method == Net::HTTP::Head
       handle_host_redirection if response_redirects?
       handle_response(chunked_body, &block)
     end
@@ -184,7 +183,17 @@ module HTTParty
       @raw_request = http_method.new(request_uri(uri))
       @raw_request.body = body if body
       @raw_request.body_stream = options[:body_stream] if options[:body_stream]
-      @raw_request.initialize_http_header(options[:headers].to_hash) if options[:headers].respond_to?(:to_hash)
+      if options[:headers].respond_to?(:to_hash)
+        headers_hash = options[:headers].to_hash
+        @raw_request.initialize_http_header(headers_hash)
+        # If the caller specified a header of 'Accept-Encoding', assume they want to 
+        # deal with encoding of content. Disable the internal logic in Net:HTTP
+        # that handles encoding, if the platform supports it.
+        if @raw_request.respond_to?(:decode_content) && (headers_hash.key?('Accept-Encoding') || headers_hash.key?('accept-encoding'))
+          # Using the '[]=' sets decode_content to false
+          @raw_request['accept-encoding'] = @raw_request['accept-encoding']
+        end
+      end
       @raw_request.basic_auth(username, password) if options[:basic_auth] && send_authorization_header?
       setup_digest_auth if options[:digest_auth]
     end
@@ -308,22 +317,6 @@ module HTTParty
       end
     end
 
-    # Inspired by Ruby 1.9
-    def handle_deflation
-      return if response_redirects?
-      return if last_response.body.nil?
-
-      case last_response["content-encoding"]
-      when "gzip", "x-gzip"
-        body_io = StringIO.new(last_response.body)
-        last_response.body.replace Zlib::GzipReader.new(body_io).read
-        last_response.delete('content-encoding')
-      when "deflate"
-        last_response.body.replace Zlib::Inflate.inflate(last_response.body)
-        last_response.delete('content-encoding')
-      end
-    end
-
     def handle_host_redirection
       check_duplicate_location_header
       redirect_path = options[:uri_adapter].parse last_response['location']
diff --git a/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb b/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb
index 16fc86d..5ba21a4 100644
--- a/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/httparty/request_spec.rb
@@ -1059,54 +1059,6 @@ RSpec.describe HTTParty::Request do
     end
   end
 
-  describe "#handle_deflation" do
-    context "context-encoding" do
-      before do
-        @request.options[:format] = :html
-        @last_response = double
-        allow(@last_response).to receive(:body).and_return('')
-      end
-
-      it "should inflate the gzipped body with content-encoding: gzip" do
-        allow(@last_response).to receive(:[]).with("content-encoding").and_return("gzip")
-        allow(@request).to receive(:last_response).and_return(@last_response)
-        expect(Zlib::GzipReader).to receive(:new).and_return(StringIO.new(''))
-        expect(@request.last_response).to receive(:delete).with('content-encoding')
-        @request.send(:handle_deflation)
-      end
-
-      it "should inflate the gzipped body with content-encoding: x-gzip" do
-        allow(@last_response).to receive(:[]).with("content-encoding").and_return("x-gzip")
-        allow(@request).to receive(:last_response).and_return(@last_response)
-        expect(Zlib::GzipReader).to receive(:new).and_return(StringIO.new(''))
-        expect(@request.last_response).to receive(:delete).with('content-encoding')
-        @request.send(:handle_deflation)
-      end
-
-      it "should inflate the deflated body" do
-        allow(@last_response).to receive(:[]).with("content-encoding").and_return("deflate")
-        allow(@request).to receive(:last_response).and_return(@last_response)
-        expect(Zlib::Inflate).to receive(:inflate).and_return('')
-        expect(@request.last_response).to receive(:delete).with('content-encoding')
-        @request.send(:handle_deflation)
-      end
-
-      it "should not inflate a redirected response with content-encoding: gzip" do
-        allow(@last_response).to receive(:[]).with("content-encoding").and_return("gzip")
-        allow(@request).to receive(:last_response).and_return(@last_response)
-        allow(@request).to receive(:response_redirects?).and_return(true)
-        @request.send(:handle_deflation)
-      end
-
-      it "should not inflate a redirected response with content-encoding: deflate" do
-        allow(@last_response).to receive(:[]).with("content-encoding").and_return("deflate")
-        allow(@request).to receive(:last_response).and_return(@last_response)
-        allow(@request).to receive(:response_redirects?).and_return(true)
-        @request.send(:handle_deflation)
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
   describe "#send_authorization_header?" do
     context "basic_auth" do
       before do
@@ -1202,4 +1154,18 @@ RSpec.describe HTTParty::Request do
       }.to raise_error(HTTParty::RedirectionTooDeep, 'HTTP redirects too deep')
     end
   end
+
+  context 'with Accept-Encoding header' do
+    it 'should disable content decoding if present' do 
+      request = HTTParty::Request.new(Net::HTTP::Get, 'http://api.foo.com/v1', headers:{'Accept-Encoding' => 'custom'})
+      request.send(:setup_raw_request)
+      expect(request.instance_variable_get(:@raw_request).decode_content).to eq(false)
+    end
+
+    it 'should disable content decoding if present' do 
+      request = HTTParty::Request.new(Net::HTTP::Get, 'http://api.foo.com/v1')
+      request.send(:setup_raw_request)
+      expect(request.instance_variable_get(:@raw_request).decode_content).to eq(true)
+    end
+  end
 end