diff --git a/tcllib/requests/runner.py b/tcllib/requests/runner.py
index b5fd3cc..5569f89 100644
--- a/tcllib/requests/runner.py
+++ b/tcllib/requests/runner.py
@@ -36,8 +36,11 @@ class RequestRunner:
             self.server_selector.hook_prerequest()
             try:
                 req = http_handler.run()
-                req.encoding = "utf-8"
-                done = query.is_done(req.status_code, req.text)
+                if query.rawmode:
+                    done = query.is_done(req.status_code, req.content)
+                else:
+                    req.encoding = "utf-8"
+                    done = query.is_done(req.status_code, req.text)
                 self.server_selector.hook_postrequest(done)
                 if done:
                     return done
diff --git a/tcllib/requests/tclrequest.py b/tcllib/requests/tclrequest.py
index be65f91..9d39607 100644
--- a/tcllib/requests/tclrequest.py
+++ b/tcllib/requests/tclrequest.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ from . import tclresult
 class TclRequest:
     def __init__(self):
         self.uri = ""
+        self.rawmode = False
         self.response = None
         self.result = None
         self.error = None