diff --git a/History.md b/History.md
index 2e549136a5..d7a2e43c35 100644
--- a/History.md
+++ b/History.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 unreleased
 ==========
 
+  * Add "root" option to `res.download`
   * Deprecate string and non-integer arguments to `res.status`
   * Ignore `Object.prototype` values in settings through `app.set`/`app.get`
   * Support proper 205 responses using `res.send`
diff --git a/lib/response.js b/lib/response.js
index 7a9564d262..101311e0eb 100644
--- a/lib/response.js
+++ b/lib/response.js
@@ -582,7 +582,9 @@ res.download = function download (path, filename, options, callback) {
   opts.headers = headers
 
   // Resolve the full path for sendFile
-  var fullPath = resolve(path);
+  var fullPath = !opts.root
+    ? resolve(path)
+    : path
 
   // send file
   return this.sendFile(fullPath, opts, done)
diff --git a/test/res.download.js b/test/res.download.js
index 1322b0a31f..51380d4ba1 100644
--- a/test/res.download.js
+++ b/test/res.download.js
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@
 var after = require('after');
 var Buffer = require('safe-buffer').Buffer
 var express = require('..');
+var path = require('path')
 var request = require('supertest');
 var utils = require('./support/utils')
 
+var FIXTURES_PATH = path.join(__dirname, 'fixtures')
+
 describe('res', function(){
   describe('.download(path)', function(){
     it('should transfer as an attachment', function(done){
@@ -178,6 +181,77 @@ describe('res', function(){
         .end(done)
       })
     })
+
+    describe('with "root" option', function () {
+      it('should allow relative path', function (done) {
+        var app = express()
+
+        app.use(function (req, res) {
+          res.download('name.txt', 'document', {
+            root: FIXTURES_PATH
+          })
+        })
+
+        request(app)
+          .get('/')
+          .expect(200)
+          .expect('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="document"')
+          .expect(utils.shouldHaveBody(Buffer.from('tobi')))
+          .end(done)
+      })
+
+      it('should allow up within root', function (done) {
+        var app = express()
+
+        app.use(function (req, res) {
+          res.download('fake/../name.txt', 'document', {
+            root: FIXTURES_PATH
+          })
+        })
+
+        request(app)
+          .get('/')
+          .expect(200)
+          .expect('Content-Disposition', 'attachment; filename="document"')
+          .expect(utils.shouldHaveBody(Buffer.from('tobi')))
+          .end(done)
+      })
+
+      it('should reject up outside root', function (done) {
+        var app = express()
+
+        app.use(function (req, res) {
+          var p = '..' + path.sep +
+            path.relative(path.dirname(FIXTURES_PATH), path.join(FIXTURES_PATH, 'name.txt'))
+
+          res.download(p, 'document', {
+            root: FIXTURES_PATH
+          })
+        })
+
+        request(app)
+          .get('/')
+          .expect(403)
+          .expect(utils.shouldNotHaveHeader('Content-Disposition'))
+          .end(done)
+      })
+
+      it('should reject reading outside root', function (done) {
+        var app = express()
+
+        app.use(function (req, res) {
+          res.download('../name.txt', 'document', {
+            root: FIXTURES_PATH
+          })
+        })
+
+        request(app)
+          .get('/')
+          .expect(403)
+          .expect(utils.shouldNotHaveHeader('Content-Disposition'))
+          .end(done)
+      })
+    })
   })
 
   describe('on failure', function(){