diff --git a/Network/Wai/Parse.hs b/Network/Wai/Parse.hs
--- a/Network/Wai/Parse.hs
+++ b/Network/Wai/Parse.hs
@@ -58,19 +58,25 @@
 parseHttpAccept :: S.ByteString -> [S.ByteString]
 parseHttpAccept = map fst
                 . sortBy (rcompare `on` snd)
-                . map grabQ
+                . map (addSpecificity . grabQ)
                 . S.split 44 -- comma
   where
-    rcompare :: Double -> Double -> Ordering
+    rcompare :: (Double,Int) -> (Double,Int) -> Ordering
     rcompare = flip compare
+    addSpecificity (s, q) =
+        -- Prefer higher-specificity types
+        let semicolons = S.count 0x3B s
+            stars = S.count 0x2A s
+        in (s, (q, semicolons - stars))
     grabQ s =
-        let (s', q) = breakDiscard 59 s -- semicolon
-            (_, q') = breakDiscard 61 q -- equals sign
-         in (trimWhite s', readQ $ trimWhite q')
+        -- Stripping all spaces may be too harsh.
+        -- Maybe just strip either side of semicolon?
+        let (s', q) = S.breakSubstring ";q=" (S.filter (/=0x20) s) -- 0x20 is space
+            q' = S.takeWhile (/=0x3B) (S.drop 3 q) -- 0x3B is semicolon
+         in (s', readQ q')
     readQ s = case reads $ S8.unpack s of
                 (x, _):_ -> x
                 _ -> 1.0
-    trimWhite = S.dropWhile (== 32) -- space
 
 -- | Store uploaded files in memory
 lbsBackEnd :: Monad m => ignored1 -> ignored2 -> Sink S.ByteString m L.ByteString
diff --git a/test/WaiExtraTest.hs b/test/WaiExtraTest.hs
--- a/test/WaiExtraTest.hs
+++ b/test/WaiExtraTest.hs
@@ -97,8 +97,8 @@
 
 caseParseHttpAccept :: Assertion
 caseParseHttpAccept = do
-    let input = "text/plain; q=0.5, text/html, text/x-dvi; q=0.8, text/x-c"
-        expected = ["text/html", "text/x-c", "text/x-dvi", "text/plain"]
+    let input = "text/plain; q=0.5, text/html;charset=utf-8, text/*;q=0.8;ext=blah, text/x-dvi; q=0.8, text/x-c"
+        expected = ["text/html;charset=utf-8", "text/x-c", "text/x-dvi", "text/*", "text/plain"]
     expected @=? parseHttpAccept input
 
 parseRequestBody' :: BackEnd L.ByteString
diff --git a/wai-extra.cabal b/wai-extra.cabal
--- a/wai-extra.cabal
+++ b/wai-extra.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:                wai-extra
-Version:             1.3.0.2
+Version:             1.3.0.3
 Synopsis:            Provides some basic WAI handlers and middleware.
 Description:         The goal here is to provide common features without many dependencies.
 License:             MIT