diff --git a/lib/logstash/codecs/avro.rb b/lib/logstash/codecs/avro.rb
index 39544e9..ebd30f1 100644
--- a/lib/logstash/codecs/avro.rb
+++ b/lib/logstash/codecs/avro.rb
@@ -60,6 +60,8 @@ class LogStash::Codecs::Avro < LogStash::Codecs::Base
   # tag events with `_avroparsefailure` when decode fails
   config :tag_on_failure, :validate => :boolean, :default => false
 
+  config :encode_as_base64, :validate => :boolean, :default => true
+
   def open_and_read(uri_string)
     open(uri_string).read
   end
@@ -67,6 +69,20 @@ def open_and_read(uri_string)
   public
   def register
     @schema = Avro::Schema.parse(open_and_read(schema_uri))
+    if encode_as_base64
+      define_singleton_method :encode do |event|
+        buffer = StringIO.new
+        write_event(event, buffer)
+        @on_event.call(event, Base64.strict_encode64(buffer.string))
+      end
+    else
+      define_singleton_method :encode do |event|
+        buffer = StringIO.new
+        buffer.set_encoding("ASCII-8BIT")
+        write_event(event, buffer)
+        @on_event.call(event, buffer.string)
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   public
@@ -84,12 +100,8 @@ def decode(data)
     end
   end
 
-  public
-  def encode(event)
-    dw = Avro::IO::DatumWriter.new(@schema)
-    buffer = StringIO.new
-    encoder = Avro::IO::BinaryEncoder.new(buffer)
-    dw.write(event.to_hash, encoder)
-    @on_event.call(event, Base64.strict_encode64(buffer.string))
+  private
+  def write_event(event, buffer)
+    Avro::IO::DatumWriter.new(@schema).write(event.to_hash, Avro::IO::BinaryEncoder.new(buffer))
   end
 end