diff --git a/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtils.java b/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtils.java
index 67249b559..d5168ba50 100644
--- a/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtils.java
+++ b/smack-core/src/main/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtils.java
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ public class PacketParserUtils {
      */
     public static CharSequence parseContentDepth(XmlPullParser parser, int depth, boolean fullNamespaces) throws XmlPullParserException, IOException {
         if (parser.supportsRoundtrip()) {
-            return parseContentDepthWithRoundtrip(parser, depth, fullNamespaces);
+            return parseContentDepthWithRoundtrip(parser, depth);
         } else {
             return parseContentDepthWithoutRoundtrip(parser, depth, fullNamespaces);
         }
@@ -368,8 +368,7 @@ public class PacketParserUtils {
         return xml;
     }
 
-    @SuppressWarnings("UnusedVariable")
-    private static CharSequence parseContentDepthWithRoundtrip(XmlPullParser parser, int depth, boolean fullNamespaces)
+    private static XmlStringBuilder parseContentDepthWithRoundtrip(XmlPullParser parser, int depth)
                     throws XmlPullParserException, IOException {
         XmlStringBuilder sb = new XmlStringBuilder();
         XmlPullParser.Event event = parser.getEventType();
@@ -377,10 +376,9 @@ public class PacketParserUtils {
         outerloop: while (true) {
             switch (event) {
             case START_ELEMENT:
-                if (startElementJustSeen) {
-                    sb.rightAngleBracket();
-                }
                 startElementJustSeen = true;
+                String openElementTag = parser.getText();
+                sb.append(openElementTag);
                 break;
             case END_ELEMENT:
                 boolean isEmptyElement = false;
diff --git a/smack-core/src/test/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtilsTest.java b/smack-core/src/test/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtilsTest.java
index 3ac5215d5..f8eacf5cd 100644
--- a/smack-core/src/test/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtilsTest.java
+++ b/smack-core/src/test/java/org/jivesoftware/smack/util/PacketParserUtilsTest.java
@@ -854,4 +854,40 @@ public class PacketParserUtilsTest {
         StanzaError error = PacketParserUtils.parseError(parser);
         assertEquals(text, error.getDescriptiveText());
     }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @EnumSource(SmackTestUtil.XmlPullParserKind.class)
+    public void testParseElementSimple(SmackTestUtil.XmlPullParserKind parserKind) throws TransformerException, ParserConfigurationException, FactoryConfigurationError, XmlPullParserException, IOException {
+        String unknownElement = XMLBuilder.create("unknown-element")
+                        .ns("https://example.org/non-existent")
+                        .e("inner")
+                        .t("test")
+                        .asString(outputProperties);
+
+        XmlPullParser xmlPullParser = SmackTestUtil.getParserFor(unknownElement, parserKind);
+
+        CharSequence unknownElementParsed = PacketParserUtils.parseElement(xmlPullParser);
+        assertXmlSimilar(unknownElement, unknownElementParsed);
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @EnumSource(SmackTestUtil.XmlPullParserKind.class)
+    public void testParseElementExtended(SmackTestUtil.XmlPullParserKind parserKind) throws TransformerException, ParserConfigurationException, FactoryConfigurationError, XmlPullParserException, IOException {
+        String unknownElement = XMLBuilder.create("unknown-element")
+                        .ns("https://example.org/non-existent")
+                        .a("attribute-outer", "foo")
+                        .e("inner")
+                        .a("attribute-inner", "bar")
+                        .a("attribute-inner-2", "baz")
+                        .t("test")
+                        .up()
+                        .e("empty-element")
+                        .up()
+                        .asString(outputProperties);
+
+        XmlPullParser xmlPullParser = SmackTestUtil.getParserFor(unknownElement, parserKind);
+
+        CharSequence unknownElementParsed = PacketParserUtils.parseElement(xmlPullParser);
+        assertXmlSimilar(unknownElement, unknownElementParsed);
+    }
 }