diff --git a/rinja/src/html.rs b/rinja/src/html.rs
index 45c1d727..bbba830e 100644
--- a/rinja/src/html.rs
+++ b/rinja/src/html.rs
@@ -1,71 +1,131 @@
-use std::fmt;
-use std::num::NonZeroU8;
+use std::{fmt, str};
 
 #[allow(unused)]
-pub(crate) fn write_escaped_str(mut fmt: impl fmt::Write, string: &str) -> fmt::Result {
-    let mut escaped_buf = *b"&#__;";
+pub(crate) fn write_escaped_str(mut dest: impl fmt::Write, src: &str) -> fmt::Result {
+    // This implementation reads one byte after another.
+    // It's not very fast, but should work well enough until portable SIMD gets stabilized.
+
+    let mut escaped_buf = ESCAPED_BUF_INIT;
     let mut last = 0;
 
-    for (index, byte) in string.bytes().enumerate() {
-        let escaped = match byte {
-            MIN_CHAR..=MAX_CHAR => TABLE.lookup[(byte - MIN_CHAR) as usize],
-            _ => None,
-        };
-        if let Some(escaped) = escaped {
-            escaped_buf[2] = escaped[0].get();
-            escaped_buf[3] = escaped[1].get();
-            fmt.write_str(&string[last..index])?;
-            fmt.write_str(unsafe { std::str::from_utf8_unchecked(escaped_buf.as_slice()) })?;
+    for (index, byte) in src.bytes().enumerate() {
+        if let Some(escaped) = get_escaped(byte) {
+            [escaped_buf[2], escaped_buf[3]] = escaped;
+            write_str_if_nonempty(&mut dest, &src[last..index])?;
+            // SAFETY: the content of `escaped_buf` is pure ASCII
+            dest.write_str(unsafe { str::from_utf8_unchecked(&escaped_buf[..ESCAPED_BUF_LEN]) })?;
             last = index + 1;
         }
     }
-    fmt.write_str(&string[last..])
+    write_str_if_nonempty(&mut dest, &src[last..])
 }
 
 #[allow(unused)]
-pub(crate) fn write_escaped_char(mut fmt: impl fmt::Write, c: char) -> fmt::Result {
-    fmt.write_str(match (c.is_ascii(), c as u8) {
-        (true, b'"') => """,
-        (true, b'&') => "&",
-        (true, b'\'') => "'",
-        (true, b'<') => "&#60;",
-        (true, b'>') => "&#62;",
-        _ => return fmt.write_char(c),
-    })
+pub(crate) fn write_escaped_char(mut dest: impl fmt::Write, c: char) -> fmt::Result {
+    if !c.is_ascii() {
+        dest.write_char(c)
+    } else if let Some(escaped) = get_escaped(c as u8) {
+        let mut escaped_buf = ESCAPED_BUF_INIT;
+        [escaped_buf[2], escaped_buf[3]] = escaped;
+        // SAFETY: the content of `escaped_buf` is pure ASCII
+        dest.write_str(unsafe { str::from_utf8_unchecked(&escaped_buf[..ESCAPED_BUF_LEN]) })
+    } else {
+        // RATIONALE: `write_char(c)` gets optimized if it is known that `c.is_ascii()`
+        dest.write_char(c)
+    }
 }
 
-const MIN_CHAR: u8 = b'"';
-const MAX_CHAR: u8 = b'>';
+/// If the character needs HTML escaping, then return the decimal representation of the codepoint.
+#[inline(always)]
+fn get_escaped(byte: u8) -> Option<[u8; 2]> {
+    match byte {
+        MIN_CHAR..=MAX_CHAR => match TABLE.lookup[(byte - MIN_CHAR) as usize] {
+            0 => None,
+            escaped => Some(escaped.to_ne_bytes()),
+        },
+        _ => None,
+    }
+}
+
+#[inline(always)]
+fn write_str_if_nonempty(output: &mut impl fmt::Write, input: &str) -> fmt::Result {
+    if !input.is_empty() {
+        output.write_str(input)
+    } else {
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
+/// List of characters that need HTML escaping, not necessarily in ordinal order.
+const CHARS: &[u8] = br#""&'<>"#;
+
+/// The character with the lowest codepoint that needs HTML escaping.
+const MIN_CHAR: u8 = {
+    let mut v = u8::MAX;
+    let mut i = 0;
+    while i < CHARS.len() {
+        if v > CHARS[i] {
+            v = CHARS[i];
+        }
+        i += 1;
+    }
+    v
+};
+
+/// The character with the highest codepoint that needs HTML escaping.
+const MAX_CHAR: u8 = {
+    let mut v = u8::MIN;
+    let mut i = 0;
+    while i < CHARS.len() {
+        if v < CHARS[i] {
+            v = CHARS[i];
+        }
+        i += 1;
+    }
+    v
+};
+
+/// Number of codepoints between the lowest and highest character that needs escaping, incl.
+const CHAR_RANGE: usize = (MAX_CHAR - MIN_CHAR + 1) as usize;
 
 struct Table {
     _align: [usize; 0],
-    lookup: [Option<[NonZeroU8; 2]>; (MAX_CHAR - MIN_CHAR + 1) as usize],
+    lookup: [u16; CHAR_RANGE],
 }
 
+/// For characters that need HTML escaping, the codepoint formatted as decimal digits,
+/// otherwise `b"\0\0"`. Starting at [`MIN_CHAR`].
 const TABLE: Table = {
-    const fn n(c: u8) -> Option<[NonZeroU8; 2]> {
-        assert!(MIN_CHAR <= c && c <= MAX_CHAR);
-
-        let n0 = match NonZeroU8::new(c / 10 + b'0') {
-            Some(n) => n,
-            None => panic!(),
-        };
-        let n1 = match NonZeroU8::new(c % 10 + b'0') {
-            Some(n) => n,
-            None => panic!(),
-        };
-        Some([n0, n1])
-    }
-
     let mut table = Table {
         _align: [],
-        lookup: [None; (MAX_CHAR - MIN_CHAR + 1) as usize],
+        lookup: [0; CHAR_RANGE],
     };
-
-    table.lookup[(b'"' - MIN_CHAR) as usize] = n(b'"');
-    table.lookup[(b'&' - MIN_CHAR) as usize] = n(b'&');
-    table.lookup[(b'\'' - MIN_CHAR) as usize] = n(b'\'');
-    table.lookup[(b'<' - MIN_CHAR) as usize] = n(b'<');
-    table.lookup[(b'>' - MIN_CHAR) as usize] = n(b'>');
+    let mut i = 0;
+    while i < CHARS.len() {
+        let c = CHARS[i];
+        let h = c / 10 + b'0';
+        let l = c % 10 + b'0';
+        table.lookup[(c - MIN_CHAR) as usize] = u16::from_ne_bytes([h, l]);
+        i += 1;
+    }
     table
 };
+
+// RATIONALE: llvm generates better code if the buffer is register sized
+const ESCAPED_BUF_INIT: [u8; 8] = *b"&#__;\0\0\0";
+const ESCAPED_BUF_LEN: usize = b"&#__;".len();
+
+#[test]
+fn simple() {
+    let mut buf = String::new();
+    write_escaped_str(&mut buf, "<script>").unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(buf, "&#60;script&#62;");
+
+    buf.clear();
+    write_escaped_str(&mut buf, "s<crip>t").unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(buf, "s&#60;crip&#62;t");
+
+    buf.clear();
+    write_escaped_str(&mut buf, "s<cripcripcripcripcripcripcripcripcripcrip>t").unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(buf, "s&#60;cripcripcripcripcripcripcripcripcripcrip&#62;t");
+}