diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm b/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm
index 7010771da..2e9c80f1d 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/HTML.pm
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ use HTML::TagFilter;
 use strict;
 use WebGUI::Macro;
 use HTML::Parser;
+use HTML::Entities;
 
 =head1 NAME
 
@@ -96,7 +97,9 @@ The HTML content you want filtered.
 
 =head3 filter
 
-Choose from "all", "none", "macros", "javascript", or "most". Defaults to "most". "all" removes all HTML tags and macros; "none" removes no HTML tags; "javascript" removes all references to javacript and macros; "macros" removes all macros, but nothing else; and "most" removes all but simple formatting tags like bold and italics.
+Choose from "all", "none", "macros", "javascript", "xml", or "most". Defaults to "most". "all" removes all HTML tags and macros; "none" removes no HTML tags; "javascript" removes all references to javacript and macros; "macros" removes all macros, but nothing else; and "most" removes all but simple formatting tags like bold and italics.
+
+"xml" will enocde XML entities.
 
 =cut
 
@@ -160,6 +163,8 @@ sub filter {
 		WebGUI::Macro::negate(\$html);
 	} elsif ($type eq "macros") {
 		WebGUI::Macro::negate(\$html);
+	} elsif ($type eq "xml") {
+        return HTML::Entities::encode_numeric($html)
 	} elsif ($type eq "none") {
 		# do nothing
 	} else {
diff --git a/t/HTML.t b/t/HTML.t
index fbdb151f9..66800b9ba 100644
--- a/t/HTML.t
+++ b/t/HTML.t
@@ -81,6 +81,18 @@ my @filterSets = (
 		type => 'all',
 		comment => 'all, specific iframe test case',
 	},
+	{
+		inputText => q! !,
+		output => q! !,
+		type => 'xml',
+		comment => 'xml,  ',
+	},
+	{
+		inputText => q!> < "!,
+		output => q!&#x3E; &#x3C; &#x22;!,
+		type => 'xml',
+		comment => 'xml, other characters',
+	},
 );
 
 my @macroParamSets = (