diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c685f194..56badf4b 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@
 debug*
 composer.lock
 /.php_cs.cache
+/.phpunit.result.cache
diff --git a/samples/bugs/Issue72.pdf b/samples/bugs/Issue72.pdf
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..05ccfdc1
Binary files /dev/null and b/samples/bugs/Issue72.pdf differ
diff --git a/src/Smalot/PdfParser/PDFObject.php b/src/Smalot/PdfParser/PDFObject.php
index 488d7537..aedb464b 100644
--- a/src/Smalot/PdfParser/PDFObject.php
+++ b/src/Smalot/PdfParser/PDFObject.php
@@ -67,14 +67,30 @@ class PDFObject
     protected $content = null;
 
     /**
-     * @param Header $header
-     * @param string $content
+     * Configuration array.
      */
-    public function __construct(Document $document, Header $header = null, $content = null)
+    protected $cfg = [
+        // if `true` ignore spacing between letters (= fix random spaces inside words)
+        'ignore_letter_spacing' => false,
+    ];
+
+    /**
+     * PDFObject constructor
+     *
+     * @param Document $document
+     * @param Header|null $header
+     * @param null $content
+     * @param array $config
+     */
+    public function __construct(Document $document, Header $header = null, $content = null, $config = [])
     {
         $this->document = $document;
         $this->header = null !== $header ? $header : new Header();
         $this->content = $content;
+
+        if (!empty($config)) {
+            $this->cfg = $config;
+        }
     }
 
     public function init()
@@ -282,14 +298,18 @@ public function getText(Page $page = null)
                         if (((float) $x <= 0) ||
                             (false !== $current_position_td['y'] && (float) $y < (float) ($current_position_td['y']))
                         ) {
-                            // vertical offset
-                            $text .= "\n";
+                            if (!$this->cfg['ignore_letter_spacing']) {
+                                // vertical offset
+                                $text .= "\n";
+                            }
                         } elseif (false !== $current_position_td['x'] && (float) $x > (float) (
                                 $current_position_td['x']
                             )
                         ) {
-                            // horizontal offset
-                            $text .= ' ';
+                            if (!$this->cfg['ignore_letter_spacing']) {
+                                // horizontal offset
+                                $text .= ' ';
+                            }
                         }
                         $current_position_td = ['x' => $x, 'y' => $y];
                         break;
@@ -302,7 +322,9 @@ public function getText(Page $page = null)
                         if ((float) $y < 0) {
                             $text .= "\n";
                         } elseif ((float) $x <= 0) {
-                            $text .= ' ';
+                            if (!$this->cfg['ignore_letter_spacing']) {
+                                $text .= ' ';
+                            }
                         }
                         break;
 
@@ -724,7 +746,7 @@ public function getCommandsText($text_part, &$offset = 0)
      *
      * @return PDFObject
      */
-    public static function factory(Document $document, Header $header, $content)
+    public static function factory(Document $document, Header $header, $content, $config = [])
     {
         switch ($header->get('Type')->getContent()) {
             case 'XObject':
@@ -758,7 +780,7 @@ public static function factory(Document $document, Header $header, $content)
                 return new Font($document, $header, $content);
 
             default:
-                return new self($document, $header, $content);
+                return new self($document, $header, $content, $config);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Smalot/PdfParser/Parser.php b/src/Smalot/PdfParser/Parser.php
index f37a14b7..425cba67 100644
--- a/src/Smalot/PdfParser/Parser.php
+++ b/src/Smalot/PdfParser/Parser.php
@@ -46,6 +46,14 @@
  */
 class Parser
 {
+    /**
+     * Configuration array.
+     */
+    protected $cfg = [
+        // if `true` ignore spacing between letters (= fix random spaces inside words)
+        'ignore_letter_spacing' => false,
+    ];
+
     /**
      * @var PDFObject[]
      */
@@ -55,6 +63,7 @@ class Parser
 
     public function __construct($cfg = [])
     {
+        $this->cfg = array_merge($this->cfg, $cfg);
         $this->rawDataParser = new RawDataParser($cfg);
     }
 
@@ -104,6 +113,7 @@ public function parseContent($content)
 
         // Create destination object.
         $document = new Document();
+        // TODO hier config setzen
         $this->objects = [];
 
         foreach ($data as $id => $structure) {
@@ -205,7 +215,7 @@ protected function parseObject($id, $structure, $document)
                             $sub_content = substr($content, $position, (int) $next_position - (int) $position);
 
                             $sub_header = Header::parse($sub_content, $document);
-                            $object = PDFObject::factory($document, $sub_header, '');
+                            $object = PDFObject::factory($document, $sub_header, '', $this->cfg);
                             $this->objects[$id] = $object;
                         }
 
@@ -229,7 +239,7 @@ protected function parseObject($id, $structure, $document)
         }
 
         if (!isset($this->objects[$id])) {
-            $this->objects[$id] = PDFObject::factory($document, $header, $content);
+            $this->objects[$id] = PDFObject::factory($document, $header, $content, $this->cfg);
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/tests/Integration/ParserTest.php b/tests/Integration/ParserTest.php
index 0adc3de3..b8bb10d1 100644
--- a/tests/Integration/ParserTest.php
+++ b/tests/Integration/ParserTest.php
@@ -146,6 +146,28 @@ public function testIssue19()
         $this->assertArrayHasKey('17_0', $objects);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Addresses the issue with text that is "too wide" between letters, resulting in random spaces everywhere in the text.
+     * First case is result with default behaviour, second case is with config that should skip the space-handling.
+     *
+     * @see https://github.com/smalot/pdfparser/issues/72
+     * @see https://github.com/smalot/pdfparser/issues/314
+     */
+    public function testIssue72()
+    {
+        $filename = $this->rootDir.'/samples/bugs/Issue72.pdf';
+        $document1 = $this->fixture->parseFile($filename);
+
+        $secondParser = new Parser(['ignore_letter_spacing' => true]);
+        $document2 = $secondParser->parseFile($filename);
+
+        $expected1 = '1Der   Z we it e   W e l t kr i eg';
+        $expected2 = '1Der Zweite Weltkrieg';
+
+        $this->assertStringContainsString($expected1, $document1->getText());
+        $this->assertStringContainsString($expected2, $document2->getText());
+    }
+
     /**
      * Properly decode ANSI encodings without producing scrambled UTF-8 characters
      *