diff --git a/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser.cpp b/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser.cpp
index d0237f8..5e8d870 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser.cpp
@@ -206,15 +206,6 @@
   }
 };
 
-// A chunk of text in the XML string within a CDATA tags.
-class CdataSegmentNode : public SegmentNode {
- public:
-
-  void Build(StringBuilder* builder) const override {
-    builder->AppendText(data, /* preserve_spaces */ true);
-  }
-};
-
 // A tag that will be encoded into the final flattened string. Tags like <b> or <i>.
 class SpanNode : public Node {
  public:
@@ -251,7 +242,6 @@
   std::vector<Node*> node_stack;
   node_stack.push_back(&root);
 
-  bool cdata_block = false;
   bool saw_span_node = false;
   SegmentNode* first_segment = nullptr;
   SegmentNode* last_segment = nullptr;
@@ -262,12 +252,9 @@
 
     // First take care of any SegmentNodes that should be created.
     if (event == xml::XmlPullParser::Event::kStartElement
-        || event == xml::XmlPullParser::Event::kEndElement
-        || event == xml::XmlPullParser::Event::kCdataStart
-        || event == xml::XmlPullParser::Event::kCdataEnd) {
+        || event == xml::XmlPullParser::Event::kEndElement) {
       if (!current_text.empty()) {
-        std::unique_ptr<SegmentNode> segment_node = (cdata_block)
-            ? util::make_unique<CdataSegmentNode>() : util::make_unique<SegmentNode>();
+        auto segment_node = util::make_unique<SegmentNode>();
         segment_node->data = std::move(current_text);
 
         last_segment = node_stack.back()->AddChild(std::move(segment_node));
@@ -345,16 +332,6 @@
         }
       } break;
 
-      case xml::XmlPullParser::Event::kCdataStart: {
-        cdata_block = true;
-        break;
-      }
-
-      case xml::XmlPullParser::Event::kCdataEnd: {
-        cdata_block = false;
-        break;
-      }
-
       default:
         // ignore.
         break;
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser_test.cpp b/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser_test.cpp
index 25b76b0..251ca0c 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser_test.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/ResourceParser_test.cpp
@@ -1195,27 +1195,26 @@
 }
 
 TEST_F(ResourceParserTest, ParseCData) {
-  std::string input = R"(
-      <string name="foo"><![CDATA[some text and ' apostrophe]]></string>)";
-
+  // Double quotes should still change the state of whitespace processing
+  std::string input = R"(<string name="foo">Hello<![CDATA[ "</string>' ]]>      World</string>)";
   ASSERT_TRUE(TestParse(input));
-  String* output = test::GetValue<String>(&table_, "string/foo");
+  auto output = test::GetValue<String>(&table_, "string/foo");
   ASSERT_THAT(output, NotNull());
-  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq("some text and ' apostrophe"));
+  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq(std::string("Hello </string>'       World").data()));
 
-  // Double quotes should not change the state of whitespace processing
-  input = R"(<string name="foo2">Hello<![CDATA[ "</string>' ]]>      World</string>)";
+  input = R"(<string name="foo2"><![CDATA[Hello
+                                          World]]></string>)";
   ASSERT_TRUE(TestParse(input));
   output = test::GetValue<String>(&table_, "string/foo2");
   ASSERT_THAT(output, NotNull());
-  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq(std::string("Hello \"</string>'  World").data()));
+  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq(std::string("Hello World").data()));
 
-  // Cdata blocks should not have their whitespace trimmed
+  // Cdata blocks should have their whitespace trimmed
   input = R"(<string name="foo3">     <![CDATA[ text ]]>     </string>)";
   ASSERT_TRUE(TestParse(input));
   output = test::GetValue<String>(&table_, "string/foo3");
   ASSERT_THAT(output, NotNull());
-  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq(std::string(" text ").data()));
+  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq(std::string("text").data()));
 
   input = R"(<string name="foo4">     <![CDATA[]]>     </string>)";
   ASSERT_TRUE(TestParse(input));
@@ -1227,7 +1226,11 @@
   ASSERT_TRUE(TestParse(input));
   output = test::GetValue<String>(&table_, "string/foo5");
   ASSERT_THAT(output, NotNull());
-  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq(std::string("    ").data()));
+  EXPECT_THAT(*output, StrValueEq(std::string("").data()));
+
+  // Single quotes must still be escaped
+  input = R"(<string name="foo6"><![CDATA[some text and ' apostrophe]]></string>)";
+  ASSERT_FALSE(TestParse(input));
 }
 
 }  // namespace aapt
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.cpp b/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.cpp
index ffc1a92..f0e4d9e 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.cpp
@@ -845,20 +845,16 @@
     : preserve_spaces_(preserve_spaces), quote_(preserve_spaces) {
 }
 
-StringBuilder& StringBuilder::AppendText(const std::string& text, bool preserve_spaces) {
+StringBuilder& StringBuilder::AppendText(const std::string& text) {
   if (!error_.empty()) {
     return *this;
   }
 
-  // Enable preserving spaces if it is enabled for this append or the StringBuilder was constructed
-  // to preserve spaces
-  preserve_spaces = (preserve_spaces) ? preserve_spaces : preserve_spaces_;
-
   const size_t previous_len = xml_string_.text.size();
   Utf8Iterator iter(text);
   while (iter.HasNext()) {
     char32_t codepoint = iter.Next();
-    if (!preserve_spaces && !quote_ && codepoint != kNonBreakingSpace && iswspace(codepoint)) {
+    if (!preserve_spaces_ && !quote_ && codepoint != kNonBreakingSpace && iswspace(codepoint)) {
       if (!last_codepoint_was_space_) {
         // Emit a space if it's the first.
         xml_string_.text += ' ';
@@ -906,11 +902,11 @@
             break;
         }
       }
-    } else if (!preserve_spaces && codepoint == U'"') {
+    } else if (!preserve_spaces_ && codepoint == U'"') {
       // Only toggle the quote state when we are not preserving spaces.
       quote_ = !quote_;
 
-    } else if (!preserve_spaces && !quote_ && codepoint == U'\'') {
+    } else if (!preserve_spaces_ && !quote_ && codepoint == U'\'') {
       // This should be escaped when we are not preserving spaces
       error_ = StringPrintf("unescaped apostrophe in string\n\"%s\"", text.c_str());
       return *this;
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.h b/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.h
index a8a3120..f77766e 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.h
+++ b/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils.h
@@ -276,10 +276,8 @@
   // single quotations can be used without escaping them.
   explicit StringBuilder(bool preserve_spaces = false);
 
-  // Appends a chunk of text. If preserve_spaces is true, whitespace removal is not performed, and
-  // single quotations can be used without escaping them for this append. Otherwise, the
-  // StringBuilder will behave as it was constructed.
-  StringBuilder& AppendText(const std::string& text, bool preserve_spaces = false);
+  // Appends a chunk of text.
+  StringBuilder& AppendText(const std::string& text);
 
   // Starts a Span (tag) with the given name. The name is expected to be of the form:
   //  "tag_name;attr1=value;attr2=value;"
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils_test.cpp b/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils_test.cpp
index 9018b0f..3b77135 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils_test.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/ResourceUtils_test.cpp
@@ -266,29 +266,6 @@
 TEST(ResourceUtilsTest, StringBuilderPreserveSpaces) {
   EXPECT_THAT(ResourceUtils::StringBuilder(true /*preserve_spaces*/).AppendText("\"").to_string(),
               Eq("\""));
-
-  // Single quotes should be able to be used without escaping them when preserving spaces and the
-  // spaces should not be trimmed
-  EXPECT_THAT(ResourceUtils::StringBuilder()
-                  .AppendText("    hey guys ")
-                  .AppendText(" 'this is so cool' ", /* preserve_spaces */ true)
-                  .AppendText(" wow    ")
-                  .to_string(),
-              Eq(" hey guys  'this is so cool'  wow "));
-
-  // Reading a double quote while preserving spaces should not change the quote state
-  EXPECT_THAT(ResourceUtils::StringBuilder()
-                  .AppendText("    hey guys ")
-                  .AppendText(" \"this is so cool' ", /* preserve_spaces */ true)
-                  .AppendText(" wow    ")
-                  .to_string(),
-              Eq(" hey guys  \"this is so cool'  wow "));
-  EXPECT_THAT(ResourceUtils::StringBuilder()
-                  .AppendText("    hey guys\"  ")
-                  .AppendText(" \"this is so cool' ", /* preserve_spaces */ true)
-                  .AppendText(" wow  \"  ")
-                  .to_string(),
-              Eq(" hey guys   \"this is so cool'  wow   "));
 }
 
 }  // namespace aapt
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener.cpp b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener.cpp
index 2fe2424..afbaae4 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener.cpp
@@ -99,9 +99,6 @@
     flat_node->lineNumber = util::HostToDevice32(node->line_number);
     flat_node->comment.index = util::HostToDevice32(-1);
 
-    // Process plain strings to make sure they get properly escaped.
-    text = StringBuilder(true /*preserve_spaces*/).AppendText(text).to_string();
-
     ResXMLTree_cdataExt* flat_text = writer.NextBlock<ResXMLTree_cdataExt>();
     AddString(text, kLowPriority, &flat_text->data);
     writer.Finish();
diff --git a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener_test.cpp b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener_test.cpp
index 25786b1..1dac493 100644
--- a/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener_test.cpp
+++ b/tools/aapt2/format/binary/XmlFlattener_test.cpp
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
   ASSERT_THAT(tree.getAttributeCount(), Eq(0u));
 
   ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::TEXT));
-  EXPECT_THAT(tree.getText(&len), StrEq(u"Some text\\"));
+  EXPECT_THAT(tree.getText(&len), StrEq(u"Some text\\\\"));
 
   ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::END_TAG));
   EXPECT_THAT(tree.getElementNamespace(&len), IsNull());
@@ -283,7 +283,7 @@
   EXPECT_THAT(tree.getAttributeStringValue(idx, &len), StrEq(u"\""));
 
   ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::TEXT));
-  EXPECT_THAT(tree.getText(&len), StrEq(u"\\d{5}"));
+  EXPECT_THAT(tree.getText(&len), StrEq(u"\\\\d{5}"));
 }
 
 TEST_F(XmlFlattenerTest, ProcessQuotes) {
@@ -360,6 +360,7 @@
    J
 
 </item>
+          <item>\t K \n </item>
           <item>
           </item>
       </root>)");
@@ -439,6 +440,12 @@
 
   ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::START_TAG));
   EXPECT_THAT(tree.getElementName(&len), StrEq(u"item"));
+  ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::TEXT));
+  EXPECT_THAT(tree.getText(&len), StrEq(u"\\t K \\n "));
+  ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::END_TAG));
+
+  ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::START_TAG));
+  EXPECT_THAT(tree.getElementName(&len), StrEq(u"item"));
   ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::END_TAG));
   ASSERT_THAT(tree.next(), Eq(android::ResXMLTree::END_TAG));