diff --git a/src/builtin/tags/block.ts b/src/builtin/tags/block.ts
index f8ad384bf..302381fdd 100644
--- a/src/builtin/tags/block.ts
+++ b/src/builtin/tags/block.ts
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ export default {
     const r = this.liquid.renderer
     const html = childDefined !== undefined
       ? childDefined
-      : yield r.renderTemplates(this.tpls, ctx)
+      : yield r.renderTemplates(this.tpls, ctx, new Emitter(ctx.opts.keepOutputType))
 
     if (ctx.getRegister('blockMode', BlockMode.OUTPUT) === BlockMode.STORE) {
       blocks[this.block] = html
diff --git a/src/builtin/tags/capture.ts b/src/builtin/tags/capture.ts
index 3b0aa1fd3..3febc3a29 100644
--- a/src/builtin/tags/capture.ts
+++ b/src/builtin/tags/capture.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { Tokenizer, assert, Template, Context, TagImplOptions, TagToken, TopLevelToken } from '../../types'
 import { evalQuotedToken } from '../../render/expression'
+import { Emitter } from '../../render/emitter'
 
 export default {
   parse: function (tagToken: TagToken, remainTokens: TopLevelToken[]) {
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ export default {
   },
   render: function * (ctx: Context) {
     const r = this.liquid.renderer
-    const html = yield r.renderTemplates(this.templates, ctx)
+    const html = yield r.renderTemplates(this.templates, ctx, new Emitter(ctx.opts.keepOutputType))
     ctx.bottom()[this.variable] = html
   }
 } as TagImplOptions
diff --git a/src/builtin/tags/include.ts b/src/builtin/tags/include.ts
index 504f4eb83..1b67e7b98 100644
--- a/src/builtin/tags/include.ts
+++ b/src/builtin/tags/include.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ export default {
     const { renderer } = liquid
     const filepath = ctx.opts.dynamicPartials
       ? (TypeGuards.isQuotedToken(file)
-        ? yield renderer.renderTemplates(liquid.parse(evalQuotedToken(file)), ctx)
+        ? yield renderer.renderTemplates(liquid.parse(evalQuotedToken(file)), ctx, new Emitter(ctx.opts.keepOutputType))
         : yield evalToken(file, ctx))
       : file.getText()
     assert(filepath, () => `illegal filename "${file.getText()}":"${filepath}"`)
diff --git a/src/builtin/tags/layout.ts b/src/builtin/tags/layout.ts
index a27cf5a13..374633c4e 100644
--- a/src/builtin/tags/layout.ts
+++ b/src/builtin/tags/layout.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export default {
     const { renderer } = liquid
     const filepath = ctx.opts.dynamicPartials
       ? (TypeGuards.isQuotedToken(file)
-        ? yield renderer.renderTemplates(liquid.parse(evalQuotedToken(file)), ctx)
+        ? yield renderer.renderTemplates(liquid.parse(evalQuotedToken(file)), ctx, new Emitter(ctx.opts.keepOutputType))
         : evalToken(this.file, ctx))
       : file.getText()
     assert(filepath, () => `illegal filename "${file.getText()}":"${filepath}"`)
@@ -24,12 +24,12 @@ export default {
     // render the remaining tokens immediately
     ctx.setRegister('blockMode', BlockMode.STORE)
     const blocks = ctx.getRegister('blocks')
-    const html = yield renderer.renderTemplates(this.tpls, ctx)
+    const html = yield renderer.renderTemplates(this.tpls, ctx, new Emitter(ctx.opts.keepOutputType))
     if (blocks[''] === undefined) blocks[''] = html
     const templates = yield liquid._parseFile(filepath, ctx.opts, ctx.sync)
     ctx.push(yield hash.render(ctx))
     ctx.setRegister('blockMode', BlockMode.OUTPUT)
-    const partial = yield renderer.renderTemplates(templates, ctx)
+    const partial = yield renderer.renderTemplates(templates, ctx, new Emitter(ctx.opts.keepOutputType))
     ctx.pop()
     emitter.write(partial)
   }
diff --git a/src/builtin/tags/render.ts b/src/builtin/tags/render.ts
index 48d0c7f50..70e3a7b44 100644
--- a/src/builtin/tags/render.ts
+++ b/src/builtin/tags/render.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ export default {
     const { renderer } = liquid
     const filepath = ctx.opts.dynamicPartials
       ? (TypeGuards.isQuotedToken(file)
-        ? yield renderer.renderTemplates(liquid.parse(evalQuotedToken(file)), ctx)
+        ? yield renderer.renderTemplates(liquid.parse(evalQuotedToken(file)), ctx, new Emitter(ctx.opts.keepOutputType))
         : evalToken(file, ctx))
       : file.getText()
     assert(filepath, () => `illegal filename "${file.getText()}":"${filepath}"`)
diff --git a/src/liquid-options.ts b/src/liquid-options.ts
index 0c066ef13..b8213479a 100644
--- a/src/liquid-options.ts
+++ b/src/liquid-options.ts
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ export interface LiquidOptions {
   fs?: FS;
   /** the global environment passed down to all partial templates, i.e. templates included by `include`, `layout` and `render` tags. */
   globals?: object;
+  /** Whether or not to keep value type when writing the Output. Defaults to `false`. */
+  keepOutputType?: boolean;
 }
 
 interface NormalizedOptions extends LiquidOptions {
@@ -69,6 +71,7 @@ export interface NormalizedFullOptions extends NormalizedOptions {
   outputDelimiterRight: string;
   greedy: boolean;
   globals: object;
+  keepOutputType: boolean;
 }
 
 export const defaultOptions: NormalizedFullOptions = {
@@ -89,7 +92,8 @@ export const defaultOptions: NormalizedFullOptions = {
   strictFilters: false,
   strictVariables: false,
   lenientIf: false,
-  globals: {}
+  globals: {},
+  keepOutputType: false
 }
 
 export function normalize (options?: LiquidOptions): NormalizedOptions {
diff --git a/src/liquid.ts b/src/liquid.ts
index 3ee61bbf0..84804d24c 100644
--- a/src/liquid.ts
+++ b/src/liquid.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { LiquidOptions, normalizeStringArray, NormalizedFullOptions, applyDefaul
 import { FilterImplOptions } from './template/filter/filter-impl-options'
 import { FS } from './fs/fs'
 import { toPromise, toValue } from './util/async'
+import { Emitter } from './render/emitter'
 
 export * from './types'
 
@@ -43,26 +44,27 @@ export class Liquid {
     return this.parser.parse(tokens)
   }
 
-  public _render (tpl: Template[], scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions, sync?: boolean): IterableIterator<string> {
+  public _render (tpl: Template[], scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions, sync?: boolean): IterableIterator<any> {
     const options = { ...this.options, ...normalize(opts) }
     const ctx = new Context(scope, options, sync)
-    return this.renderer.renderTemplates(tpl, ctx)
+    const emitter = new Emitter(options.keepOutputType)
+    return this.renderer.renderTemplates(tpl, ctx, emitter)
   }
-  public async render (tpl: Template[], scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): Promise<string> {
+  public async render (tpl: Template[], scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): Promise<any> {
     return toPromise(this._render(tpl, scope, opts, false))
   }
-  public renderSync (tpl: Template[], scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): string {
+  public renderSync (tpl: Template[], scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): any {
     return toValue(this._render(tpl, scope, opts, true))
   }
 
-  public _parseAndRender (html: string, scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions, sync?: boolean): IterableIterator<string> {
+  public _parseAndRender (html: string, scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions, sync?: boolean): IterableIterator<any> {
     const tpl = this.parse(html)
     return this._render(tpl, scope, opts, sync)
   }
-  public async parseAndRender (html: string, scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): Promise<string> {
+  public async parseAndRender (html: string, scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): Promise<any> {
     return toPromise(this._parseAndRender(html, scope, opts, false))
   }
-  public parseAndRenderSync (html: string, scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): string {
+  public parseAndRenderSync (html: string, scope?: object, opts?: LiquidOptions): any {
     return toValue(this._parseAndRender(html, scope, opts, true))
   }
 
diff --git a/src/render/emitter.ts b/src/render/emitter.ts
index 6231a6382..40b6f2c19 100644
--- a/src/render/emitter.ts
+++ b/src/render/emitter.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,18 @@
 export class Emitter {
-  public html = '';
+  public html: any = '';
   public break = false;
   public continue = false;
+  private keepOutputType? = false;
 
-  public write (html: string) {
-    this.html += html
+  constructor (keepOutputType: boolean|undefined) {
+    this.keepOutputType = keepOutputType
+  }
+
+  public write (html: any) {
+    if (this.keepOutputType && typeof html !== 'string') {
+      this.html = html
+    } else {
+      this.html += html as string
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/render/render.ts b/src/render/render.ts
index 76e8096b5..800765e24 100644
--- a/src/render/render.ts
+++ b/src/render/render.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { Template } from '../template/template'
 import { Emitter } from './emitter'
 
 export class Render {
-  public * renderTemplates (templates: Template[], ctx: Context, emitter = new Emitter()): IterableIterator<string> {
+  public * renderTemplates (templates: Template[], ctx: Context, emitter: Emitter): IterableIterator<any> {
     for (const tpl of templates) {
       try {
         const html = yield tpl.render(ctx, emitter)
diff --git a/src/template/output.ts b/src/template/output.ts
index 4c7da7c5c..db102db8e 100644
--- a/src/template/output.ts
+++ b/src/template/output.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ export class Output extends TemplateImpl<OutputToken> implements Template {
   }
   public * render (ctx: Context, emitter: Emitter) {
     const val = yield this.value.value(ctx)
-    emitter.write(stringify(toValue(val)))
+    if (ctx.opts.keepOutputType) {
+      emitter.write(toValue(val))
+    } else {
+      emitter.write(stringify(toValue(val)))
+    }
   }
 }
diff --git a/test/unit/render/render.ts b/test/unit/render/render.ts
index 0f45f3615..4dfef1eaf 100644
--- a/test/unit/render/render.ts
+++ b/test/unit/render/render.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { Context } from '../../../src/context/context'
 import { HTMLToken } from '../../../src/tokens/html-token'
 import { Render } from '../../../src/render/render'
 import { HTML } from '../../../src/template/html'
+import { Emitter } from '../../../src/render/emitter'
 import { toThenable } from '../../../src/util/async'
 
 describe('render', function () {
@@ -15,7 +16,7 @@ describe('render', function () {
     it('should render html', async function () {
       const scope = new Context()
       const token = { getContent: () => '<p>' } as HTMLToken
-      const html = await toThenable(render.renderTemplates([new HTML(token)], scope))
+      const html = await toThenable(render.renderTemplates([new HTML(token)], scope, new Emitter(scope.opts.keepOutputType)))
       return expect(html).to.equal('<p>')
     })
   })