diff --git a/src/jsx_encoder.erl b/src/jsx_encoder.erl
index 18201bf..1dbd13f 100644
--- a/src/jsx_encoder.erl
+++ b/src/jsx_encoder.erl
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 
 -module(jsx_encoder).
 
--export([encoder/3, clean_string/1]).
+-export([encoder/3]).
 
 -spec encoder(Handler::module(), State::any(), Opts::jsx:opts()) -> jsx:encoder().
 
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ start(Term, {Handler, State}, Opts) ->
 
 
 value(String, {Handler, State}, Opts) when is_binary(String) ->
-    Handler:handle_event({string, clean_string(String, <<>>, Opts)}, State);
+    Handler:handle_event({string, clean_string(String, Opts)}, State);
 value(Float, {Handler, State}, _Opts) when is_float(Float) ->
     Handler:handle_event({float, Float}, State);
 value(Int, {Handler, State}, _Opts) when is_integer(Int) ->
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ object([{Key, Value}|Rest], {Handler, State}, Opts) ->
             Handler,
             value(
                 Value,
-                {Handler, Handler:handle_event({key, clean_string(fix_key(Key), <<>>, Opts)}, State)},
+                {Handler, Handler:handle_event({key, clean_string(fix_key(Key), Opts)}, State)},
                 Opts
             )
         },
@@ -103,98 +103,31 @@ fix_key(Key) when is_atom(Key) -> fix_key(atom_to_binary(Key, utf8));
 fix_key(Key) when is_binary(Key) -> Key.
 
 
-clean_string(Bin) -> clean_string(Bin, <<>>, #opts{json_escape=true}).
+clean_string(Bin, Opts) ->
+    case Opts#opts.json_escape of
+        true -> jsx_utils:json_escape(Bin, Opts);
+        false -> 
+            case is_clean(Bin) of
+                true -> Bin;
+                false -> clean_string(Bin, [], Opts)
+            end
+    end.
 
-clean_string(<<$\", Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $\">>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<$\\, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $\\>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<$\b, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $b>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<$\f, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $f>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<$\n, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $n>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<$\r, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $r>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<$\t, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $t>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<$/, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true, escape_forward_slash=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, $\\, $/>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<16#2028/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true, no_jsonp_escapes=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, 16#2028/utf8>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<16#2029/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true, no_jsonp_escapes=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, 16#2029/utf8>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<16#2028/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, (json_escape_sequence(16#2028))/binary>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<16#2029/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, (json_escape_sequence(16#2029))/binary>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<C/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{json_escape=true}) when C < 32 ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, (json_escape_sequence(C))/binary>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<C/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts) when C < 16#fdd0 ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, C/utf8>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<C/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts) when C > 16#fdef, C < 16#fffe ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, C/utf8>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<C/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts) 
-        when C > 16#ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#1fffe andalso C =/= 16#1ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#2fffe andalso C =/= 16#2ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#3fffe andalso C =/= 16#3ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#4fffe andalso C =/= 16#4ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#5fffe andalso C =/= 16#5ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#6fffe andalso C =/= 16#6ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#7fffe andalso C =/= 16#7ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#8fffe andalso C =/= 16#8ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#9fffe andalso C =/= 16#9ffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#afffe andalso C =/= 16#affff andalso
-            C =/= 16#bfffe andalso C =/= 16#bffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#cfffe andalso C =/= 16#cffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#dfffe andalso C =/= 16#dffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#efffe andalso C =/= 16#effff andalso
-            C =/= 16#ffffe andalso C =/= 16#fffff andalso
-            C =/= 16#10fffe andalso C =/= 16#10ffff ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, C/utf8>>, Opts);
+
+is_clean(<<>>) -> true;
+is_clean(<<_/utf8, Rest/binary>>) -> is_clean(Rest);
+is_clean(_) -> false.
+
+
+clean_string(Bin, _Acc, Opts=#opts{loose_unicode=false}) -> ?error([Bin, Opts]);
+clean_string(<<>>, Acc, _Opts) -> unicode:characters_to_binary(lists:reverse(Acc));
+clean_string(<<X/utf8, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts) -> clean_string(Rest, [X] ++ Acc, Opts);
 %% surrogates
-clean_string(<<237, X, _, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{loose_unicode=true}) when X >= 160 ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, 16#fffd/utf8>>, Opts);
-%% private use noncharacters
-clean_string(<<239, 183, X, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{loose_unicode=true}) when X >= 143, X =< 175 ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, 16#fffd/utf8>>, Opts);
-%% u+fffe and u+ffff
-clean_string(<<239, 191, X, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{loose_unicode=true}) when X == 190; X == 191 ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, 16#fffd/utf8>>, Opts);
-%% the u+Xfffe and u+Xffff noncharacters
-clean_string(<<X, Y, 191, Z, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{loose_unicode=true}) when (
-            (X == 240 andalso Y == 159) orelse
-            (X == 240 andalso Y == 175) orelse
-            (X == 240 andalso Y == 191) orelse
-            (
-                (X == 241 orelse X == 242 orelse X == 243) andalso
-                (Y == 143 orelse Y == 159 orelse Y == 175 orelse Y == 191)
-            ) orelse
-            (X == 244 andalso Y == 143)
-        ) andalso (Z == 190 orelse Z == 191) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, 16#fffd/utf8>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<_, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts=#opts{loose_unicode=true}) ->
-    clean_string(Rest, <<Acc/binary, 16#fffd/utf8>>, Opts);
-clean_string(<<>>, Acc, _) -> Acc;
-clean_string(Bin, _Acc, Opts) -> erlang:error(badarg, [Bin, Opts]).
-    
-    
-%% convert a codepoint to it's \uXXXX equiv.
-json_escape_sequence(X) ->
-    <<A:4, B:4, C:4, D:4>> = <<X:16>>,
-    unicode:characters_to_binary([$\\, $u, (to_hex(A)), (to_hex(B)), (to_hex(C)), (to_hex(D))]).
+clean_string(<<237, X, _, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts) when X >= 160 -> clean_string(Rest, [16#fffd] ++ Acc, Opts);
+%% bad codepoints
+clean_string(<<_, Rest/binary>>, Acc, Opts) -> clean_string(Rest, [16#fffd] ++ Acc, Opts).
 
 
-to_hex(10) -> $a;
-to_hex(11) -> $b;
-to_hex(12) -> $c;
-to_hex(13) -> $d;
-to_hex(14) -> $e;
-to_hex(15) -> $f;
-to_hex(X) -> X + 48.    %% ascii "1" is [49], "2" is [50], etc...
-
 -ifdef(TEST).
 -include_lib("eunit/include/eunit.hrl").
 
@@ -276,26 +209,6 @@ encode_test_() ->
             )
         }
     ].
-    
-noncharacters_test_() ->
-    [
-        {"noncharacters - badjson",
-            ?_assertEqual(check_bad(noncharacters()), [])
-        },
-        {"noncharacters - replaced",
-            ?_assertEqual(check_replaced(noncharacters()), [])
-        }
-    ].
-
-extended_noncharacters_test_() ->
-    [
-        {"extended noncharacters - badjson",
-            ?_assertEqual(check_bad(extended_noncharacters()), [])
-        },
-        {"extended noncharacters - replaced",
-            ?_assertEqual(check_replaced(extended_noncharacters()), [])
-        }
-    ].
 
 surrogates_test_() ->
     [
@@ -306,16 +219,6 @@ surrogates_test_() ->
             ?_assertEqual(check_replaced(surrogates()), [])
         }
     ].
-
-reserved_test_() ->
-    [
-        {"reserved noncharacters - badjson",
-            ?_assertEqual(check_bad(reserved_space()), [])
-        },
-        {"reserved noncharacters - replaced",
-            ?_assertEqual(check_replaced(reserved_space()), [])
-        }
-    ].
     
 good_characters_test_() ->
     [
@@ -387,26 +290,11 @@ check([H|T], Opts, Acc) ->
     check(T, Opts, [{H, R}] ++ Acc).
     
 
-
-noncharacters() -> lists:seq(16#fffe, 16#ffff).
-    
-extended_noncharacters() ->
-    [16#1fffe, 16#1ffff, 16#2fffe, 16#2ffff]
-        ++ [16#3fffe, 16#3ffff, 16#4fffe, 16#4ffff]
-        ++ [16#5fffe, 16#5ffff, 16#6fffe, 16#6ffff]
-        ++ [16#7fffe, 16#7ffff, 16#8fffe, 16#8ffff]
-        ++ [16#9fffe, 16#9ffff, 16#afffe, 16#affff]
-        ++ [16#bfffe, 16#bffff, 16#cfffe, 16#cffff]
-        ++ [16#dfffe, 16#dffff, 16#efffe, 16#effff]
-        ++ [16#ffffe, 16#fffff, 16#10fffe, 16#10ffff].
-
 surrogates() -> lists:seq(16#d800, 16#dfff).
 
-reserved_space() -> lists:seq(16#fdd0, 16#fdef).
-
-good() -> lists:seq(1, 16#d7ff) ++ lists:seq(16#e000, 16#fdcf) ++ lists:seq(16#fdf0, 16#fffd).
+good() -> lists:seq(1, 16#d7ff) ++ lists:seq(16#e000, 16#ffff).
             
-good_extended() -> lists:seq(16#100000, 16#10fffd).
+good_extended() -> lists:seq(16#100000, 16#10ffff).
 
 %% erlang refuses to encode certain codepoints, so fake them all
 to_fake_utf(N, utf8) when N < 16#0080 -> <<N:8>>;