diff --git a/components/library/src/content/page.rs b/components/library/src/content/page.rs
index 934ba6fa..45733571 100644
--- a/components/library/src/content/page.rs
+++ b/components/library/src/content/page.rs
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ impl Page {
 
         page.slug = {
             if let Some(ref slug) = page.meta.slug {
-                slug.trim().to_string()
+                slugify(&slug.trim())
             } else if page.file.name == "index" {
                 if let Some(parent) = page.file.path.parent() {
                     if let Some(slug) = slug_from_dated_filename {
@@ -437,6 +437,22 @@ Hello world"#;
         assert_eq!(page.permalink, config.make_permalink("hello-world"));
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn can_make_url_from_slug_only_with_no_special_chars() {
+        let content = r#"
+    +++
+    slug = "hello-&-world"
+    +++
+    Hello world"#;
+        let config = Config::default();
+        let res = Page::parse(Path::new("start.md"), content, &config, &PathBuf::new());
+        assert!(res.is_ok());
+        let page = res.unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(page.path, "hello-world/");
+        assert_eq!(page.components, vec!["hello-world"]);
+        assert_eq!(page.permalink, config.make_permalink("hello-world"));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn can_make_url_from_path() {
         let content = r#"
diff --git a/components/site/tests/site.rs b/components/site/tests/site.rs
index c5288be6..015f6caf 100644
--- a/components/site/tests/site.rs
+++ b/components/site/tests/site.rs
@@ -167,12 +167,12 @@ fn can_build_site_without_live_reload() {
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "sitemap.xml",
-        "<loc>https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/posts/simple/</loc>"
+        "<loc>https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/posts/simple/</loc>"
     ));
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "sitemap.xml",
-        "<loc>https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/posts/</loc>"
+        "<loc>https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/posts/</loc>"
     ));
     // Drafts are not in the sitemap
     assert!(!file_contains!(public, "sitemap.xml", "draft"));
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ fn can_build_site_with_taxonomies() {
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "categories/a/rss.xml",
-        "https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/categories/a/rss.xml"
+        "https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/categories/a/rss.xml"
     ));
     // Extending from a theme works
     assert!(file_contains!(public, "categories/a/index.html", "EXTENDED"));
@@ -291,12 +291,12 @@ fn can_build_site_with_taxonomies() {
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "sitemap.xml",
-        "<loc>https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/categories/</loc>"
+        "<loc>https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/categories/</loc>"
     ));
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "sitemap.xml",
-        "<loc>https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/categories/a/</loc>"
+        "<loc>https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/categories/a/</loc>"
     ));
 }
 
@@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ fn can_build_site_with_pagination_for_section() {
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "sitemap.xml",
-        "<loc>https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/posts/page/4/</loc>"
+        "<loc>https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/posts/page/4/</loc>"
     ));
 }
 
@@ -478,7 +478,7 @@ fn can_build_site_with_pagination_for_index() {
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "sitemap.xml",
-        "<loc>https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/page/1/</loc>"
+        "<loc>https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/page/1/</loc>"
     ))
 }
 
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ fn can_build_site_with_pagination_for_taxonomy() {
     assert!(file_contains!(
         public,
         "sitemap.xml",
-        "<loc>https%3A//replace-this-with-your-url.com/tags/a/page/6/</loc>"
+        "<loc>https://replace-this-with-your-url.com/tags/a/page/6/</loc>"
     ))
 }
 
@@ -643,7 +643,7 @@ fn can_apply_page_templates() {
     assert_eq!(child.meta.title, Some("Local section override".into()));
 }
 
-// https%3A//github.com/getzola/zola/issues/571
+// https://github.com/getzola/zola/issues/571
 #[test]
 fn can_build_site_custom_builtins_from_theme() {
     let (_, _tmp_dir, public) = build_site("test_site");
diff --git a/components/site/tests/site_i18n.rs b/components/site/tests/site_i18n.rs
index 2ba1b102..2f81c7cd 100644
--- a/components/site/tests/site_i18n.rs
+++ b/components/site/tests/site_i18n.rs
@@ -112,17 +112,17 @@ fn can_build_multilingual_site() {
 
     // sitemap contains all languages
     assert!(file_exists!(public, "sitemap.xml"));
-    assert!(file_contains!(public, "sitemap.xml", "https%3A//example.com/blog/something-else/"));
-    assert!(file_contains!(public, "sitemap.xml", "https%3A//example.com/fr/blog/something-else/"));
-    assert!(file_contains!(public, "sitemap.xml", "https%3A//example.com/it/blog/something-else/"));
+    assert!(file_contains!(public, "sitemap.xml", "https://example.com/blog/something-else/"));
+    assert!(file_contains!(public, "sitemap.xml", "https://example.com/fr/blog/something-else/"));
+    assert!(file_contains!(public, "sitemap.xml", "https://example.com/it/blog/something-else/"));
 
     // one rss per language
     assert!(file_exists!(public, "rss.xml"));
-    assert!(file_contains!(public, "rss.xml", "https%3A//example.com/blog/something-else/"));
-    assert!(!file_contains!(public, "rss.xml", "https%3A//example.com/fr/blog/something-else/"));
+    assert!(file_contains!(public, "rss.xml", "https://example.com/blog/something-else/"));
+    assert!(!file_contains!(public, "rss.xml", "https://example.com/fr/blog/something-else/"));
     assert!(file_exists!(public, "fr/rss.xml"));
-    assert!(!file_contains!(public, "fr/rss.xml", "https%3A//example.com/blog/something-else/"));
-    assert!(file_contains!(public, "fr/rss.xml", "https%3A//example.com/fr/blog/something-else/"));
+    assert!(!file_contains!(public, "fr/rss.xml", "https://example.com/blog/something-else/"));
+    assert!(file_contains!(public, "fr/rss.xml", "https://example.com/fr/blog/something-else/"));
     // Italian doesn't have RSS enabled
     assert!(!file_exists!(public, "it/rss.xml"));
 
diff --git a/components/templates/src/builtins/rss.xml b/components/templates/src/builtins/rss.xml
index 3d5e909d..8f889737 100644
--- a/components/templates/src/builtins/rss.xml
+++ b/components/templates/src/builtins/rss.xml
@@ -2,18 +2,18 @@
 <rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0">
     <channel>
         <title>{{ config.title }}</title>
-        <link>{{ config.base_url | urlencode | safe }}</link>
+        <link>{{ config.base_url | safe }}</link>
         <description>{{ config.description }}</description>
         <generator>Zola</generator>
         <language>{{ config.default_language }}</language>
-        <atom:link href="{{ feed_url | safe | urlencode | safe }}" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
+        <atom:link href="{{ feed_url | safe }}" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
         <lastBuildDate>{{ last_build_date | date(format="%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z") }}</lastBuildDate>
         {% for page in pages %}
             <item>
                 <title>{{ page.title }}</title>
                 <pubDate>{{ page.date | date(format="%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z") }}</pubDate>
-                <link>{{ page.permalink | urlencode | safe }}</link>
-                <guid>{{ page.permalink | urlencode | safe }}</guid>
+                <link>{{ page.permalink | safe }}</link>
+                <guid>{{ page.permalink | safe }}</guid>
                 <description>{% if page.summary %}{{ page.summary }}{% else %}{{ page.content }}{% endif %}</description>
             </item>
         {% endfor %}
diff --git a/components/templates/src/builtins/sitemap.xml b/components/templates/src/builtins/sitemap.xml
index 7186e534..171ae2e7 100644
--- a/components/templates/src/builtins/sitemap.xml
+++ b/components/templates/src/builtins/sitemap.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
     {% for sitemap_entry in entries %}
         <url>
-            <loc>{{ sitemap_entry.permalink | urlencode | safe }}</loc>
+            <loc>{{ sitemap_entry.permalink | safe }}</loc>
             {% if sitemap_entry.date %}
                 <lastmod>{{ sitemap_entry.date }}</lastmod>
             {% endif %}
diff --git a/test_site/content/posts/fixed-slug.md b/test_site/content/posts/fixed-slug.md
index afec24bc..6bac415a 100644
--- a/test_site/content/posts/fixed-slug.md
+++ b/test_site/content/posts/fixed-slug.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 +++
 title = "Fixed slug"
 description = ""
-slug = "something-else"
+slug = "something-&-else"
 date = 2017-01-01
 aliases = ["/an-old-url/old-page", "/an-old-url/an-old-alias.html"]
 +++