diff --git a/smartfile/__init__.py b/smartfile/__init__.py
index 44f3b3d..958e9fa 100644
--- a/smartfile/__init__.py
+++ b/smartfile/__init__.py
@@ -67,7 +67,10 @@ def _do_request(self, request, url, **kwargs):
                 return response.text
         else:
             # This might be a file, so return it.
-            return response.raw
+            if kwargs.get('params', {}).get('raw', True):
+                return response.raw
+            else:
+                return response
 
     def _request(self, method, endpoint, id=None, **kwargs):
         "Handles retrying failed requests and error handling."
@@ -145,14 +148,19 @@ def upload(self, filename, fileobj):
         arg = (filename, fileobj)
         return self.post('/path/data/', file=arg)
 
-    def download(self, file_to_be_downloaded):
+    def download(self, file_to_be_downloaded, perform_download=True):
         """ file_to_be_downloaded is a file-like object that has already
         been uploaded, you cannot download folders """
+        response = self.get(
+            '/path/data/', file_to_be_downloaded, raw=False)
+        if not perform_download:
+            # The caller can decide how to process the download of the data
+            return response
+
         # download uses shutil.copyfileobj to download, which copies
         # the data in chunks
         o = open(file_to_be_downloaded, 'wb')
-        return shutil.copyfileobj(self.get('/path/data/',
-                                  file_to_be_downloaded), o)
+        return shutil.copyfileobj(response.raw, o)
 
     def move(self, src_path, dst_path):
         # check destination folder for / at end
diff --git a/test/test_smartfile.py b/test/test_smartfile.py
index 2e19ff6..247de6c 100644
--- a/test/test_smartfile.py
+++ b/test/test_smartfile.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import os
+import requests
 import unittest
 
 try:
@@ -47,6 +48,8 @@ def upload(self):
         self.assertEquals(self.get_data()['size'], f.tell())
 
     def download(self):
+        response = self.api.download(TESTFN, False)
+        self.assertTrue(isinstance(response, requests.Response))
         self.api.download(TESTFN)
         self.assertEquals(self.get_data()['size'], os.path.getsize(TESTFN))