diff --git a/actix-http/Cargo.toml b/actix-http/Cargo.toml
index 11bfa7a1a..2c537defc 100644
--- a/actix-http/Cargo.toml
+++ b/actix-http/Cargo.toml
@@ -29,6 +29,14 @@ path = "src/lib.rs"
 [features]
 default = []
 
+
+ws = [
+    "local-channel",
+    "base64",
+    "rand",
+    "sha-1",
+]
+
 # openssl
 openssl = ["actix-tls/accept", "actix-tls/openssl"]
 
@@ -51,7 +59,6 @@ actix-utils = "3.0.0"
 actix-rt = { version = "2.2", default-features = false }
 
 ahash = "0.7"
-base64 = "0.13"
 bitflags = "1.2"
 bytes = "1"
 bytestring = "1"
@@ -64,15 +71,18 @@ httparse = "1.5.1"
 httpdate = "1.0.1"
 itoa = "1"
 language-tags = "0.3"
-local-channel = "0.1"
 log = "0.4"
 mime = "0.3"
 percent-encoding = "2.1"
 pin-project-lite = "0.2"
-rand = "0.8"
-sha-1 = "0.10"
 smallvec = "1.6.1"
 
+# websockets
+local-channel = { version = "0.1", optional = true }
+base64 = { version = "0.13", optional = true }
+rand = { version = "0.8", optional = true }
+sha-1 = { version = "0.10", optional = true }
+
 # tls
 actix-tls = { version = "3.0.0", default-features = false, optional = true }
 
diff --git a/actix-http/src/error.rs b/actix-http/src/error.rs
index df6d3813a..d1aab0b92 100644
--- a/actix-http/src/error.rs
+++ b/actix-http/src/error.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ use std::{error::Error as StdError, fmt, io, str::Utf8Error, string::FromUtf8Err
 use derive_more::{Display, Error, From};
 use http::{uri::InvalidUri, StatusCode};
 
-use crate::{body::BoxBody, ws, Response};
+use crate::{body::BoxBody, Response};
 
 pub use http::Error as HttpError;
 
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ impl Error {
         Self::new(Kind::Encoder)
     }
 
+    #[allow(unused)] // used with `ws` feature flag
     pub(crate) fn new_ws() -> Self {
         Self::new(Kind::Ws)
     }
@@ -139,14 +140,16 @@ impl From<HttpError> for Error {
     }
 }
 
-impl From<ws::HandshakeError> for Error {
-    fn from(err: ws::HandshakeError) -> Self {
+#[cfg(feature = "ws")]
+impl From<crate::ws::HandshakeError> for Error {
+    fn from(err: crate::ws::HandshakeError) -> Self {
         Self::new_ws().with_cause(err)
     }
 }
 
-impl From<ws::ProtocolError> for Error {
-    fn from(err: ws::ProtocolError) -> Self {
+#[cfg(feature = "ws")]
+impl From<crate::ws::ProtocolError> for Error {
+    fn from(err: crate::ws::ProtocolError) -> Self {
         Self::new_ws().with_cause(err)
     }
 }
diff --git a/actix-http/src/lib.rs b/actix-http/src/lib.rs
index c8c7d55c9..cdf61b6a6 100644
--- a/actix-http/src/lib.rs
+++ b/actix-http/src/lib.rs
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ mod requests;
 mod responses;
 mod service;
 pub mod test;
+#[cfg(feature = "ws")]
 pub mod ws;
 
 pub use self::builder::HttpServiceBuilder;
diff --git a/actix-http/src/ws/codec.rs b/actix-http/src/ws/codec.rs
index f5b755eec..f1ca01e39 100644
--- a/actix-http/src/ws/codec.rs
+++ b/actix-http/src/ws/codec.rs
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ use bitflags::bitflags;
 use bytes::{Bytes, BytesMut};
 use bytestring::ByteString;
 
-use super::frame::Parser;
-use super::proto::{CloseReason, OpCode};
-use super::ProtocolError;
+use super::{
+    frame::Parser,
+    proto::{CloseReason, OpCode},
+    ProtocolError,
+};
 
 /// A WebSocket message.
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq)]
diff --git a/actix-http/src/ws/dispatcher.rs b/actix-http/src/ws/dispatcher.rs
index f12ae1b1a..4c7470d37 100644
--- a/actix-http/src/ws/dispatcher.rs
+++ b/actix-http/src/ws/dispatcher.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
-use std::future::Future;
-use std::pin::Pin;
-use std::task::{Context, Poll};
+use std::{
+    future::Future,
+    pin::Pin,
+    task::{Context, Poll},
+};
 
 use actix_codec::{AsyncRead, AsyncWrite, Framed};
 use actix_service::{IntoService, Service};
diff --git a/actix-http/src/ws/frame.rs b/actix-http/src/ws/frame.rs
index b58ef7362..78cef1046 100644
--- a/actix-http/src/ws/frame.rs
+++ b/actix-http/src/ws/frame.rs
@@ -3,9 +3,11 @@ use std::convert::TryFrom;
 use bytes::{Buf, BufMut, BytesMut};
 use log::debug;
 
-use crate::ws::mask::apply_mask;
-use crate::ws::proto::{CloseCode, CloseReason, OpCode};
-use crate::ws::ProtocolError;
+use super::{
+    mask::apply_mask,
+    proto::{CloseCode, CloseReason, OpCode},
+    ProtocolError,
+};
 
 /// A struct representing a WebSocket frame.
 #[derive(Debug)]