diff --git a/packages/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts b/packages/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts
index ddcb799c79..91b295982a 100644
--- a/packages/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-browser/src/dom/dom_renderer.ts
@@ -6,16 +6,17 @@
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
 
-import {APP_ID, Inject, Injectable, RenderComponentType, Renderer, Renderer2, RendererFactory2, RendererStyleFlags2, RendererType2, RootRenderer, ViewEncapsulation} from '@angular/core';
+import {Injectable, Renderer2, RendererFactory2, RendererStyleFlags2, RendererType2, ViewEncapsulation} from '@angular/core';
 
 import {EventManager} from './events/event_manager';
 import {DomSharedStylesHost} from './shared_styles_host';
 
 export const NAMESPACE_URIS: {[ns: string]: string} = {
-  'xlink': 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink',
   'svg': 'http://www.w3.org/2000/svg',
   'xhtml': 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml',
-  'xml': 'http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace'
+  'xlink': 'http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink',
+  'xml': 'http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace',
+  'xmlns': 'http://www.w3.org/2000/xmlns/',
 };
 
 const COMPONENT_REGEX = /%COMP%/g;
@@ -146,7 +147,13 @@ class DefaultDomRenderer2 implements Renderer2 {
 
   setAttribute(el: any, name: string, value: string, namespace?: string): void {
     if (namespace) {
-      el.setAttributeNS(NAMESPACE_URIS[namespace], namespace + ':' + name, value);
+      name = `${namespace}:${name}`;
+      const namespaceUri = NAMESPACE_URIS[namespace];
+      if (namespaceUri) {
+        el.setAttributeNS(namespaceUri, name, value);
+      } else {
+        el.setAttribute(name, value);
+      }
     } else {
       el.setAttribute(name, value);
     }
@@ -154,7 +161,12 @@ class DefaultDomRenderer2 implements Renderer2 {
 
   removeAttribute(el: any, name: string, namespace?: string): void {
     if (namespace) {
-      el.removeAttributeNS(NAMESPACE_URIS[namespace], name);
+      const namespaceUri = NAMESPACE_URIS[namespace];
+      if (namespaceUri) {
+        el.removeAttributeNS(namespaceUri, name);
+      } else {
+        el.removeAttribute(`${namespace}:${name}`);
+      }
     } else {
       el.removeAttribute(name);
     }
diff --git a/packages/platform-browser/test/dom/dom_renderer_spec.ts b/packages/platform-browser/test/dom/dom_renderer_spec.ts
index 448bea205d..e3332ad818 100644
--- a/packages/platform-browser/test/dom/dom_renderer_spec.ts
+++ b/packages/platform-browser/test/dom/dom_renderer_spec.ts
@@ -5,30 +5,90 @@
  * Use of this source code is governed by an MIT-style license that can be
  * found in the LICENSE file at https://angular.io/license
  */
-import {CommonModule} from '@angular/common';
-import {Component, NgModule, ViewEncapsulation} from '@angular/core';
+import {Component, Renderer2, ViewEncapsulation} from '@angular/core';
 import {TestBed} from '@angular/core/testing';
-import {BrowserModule} from '@angular/platform-browser';
 import {By} from '@angular/platform-browser/src/dom/debug/by';
 import {browserDetection} from '@angular/platform-browser/testing/src/browser_util';
 import {expect} from '@angular/platform-browser/testing/src/matchers';
+import {NAMESPACE_URIS} from '../../src/dom/dom_renderer';
 
 export function main() {
-  describe('DomRenderer', () => {
+  describe('DefaultDomRendererV2', () => {
+    let renderer: Renderer2;
 
-    beforeEach(() => TestBed.configureTestingModule({imports: [BrowserModule, TestModule]}));
+    beforeEach(() => {
+      TestBed.configureTestingModule({
+        declarations: [
+          TestCmp, SomeApp, CmpEncapsulationEmulated, CmpEncapsulationNative, CmpEncapsulationNone
+        ]
+      });
+      renderer = TestBed.createComponent(TestCmp).componentInstance.renderer;
+    });
+
+    describe('setAttribute', () => {
+      describe('with namespace', () => {
+        it('xmlns', () => shouldSetAttributeWithNs('xmlns'));
+        it('xml', () => shouldSetAttributeWithNs('xml'));
+        it('svg', () => shouldSetAttributeWithNs('svg'));
+        it('xhtml', () => shouldSetAttributeWithNs('xhtml'));
+        it('xlink', () => shouldSetAttributeWithNs('xlink'));
+
+        it('unknown', () => {
+          const div = document.createElement('div');
+          expect(div.hasAttribute('unknown:name')).toBe(false);
+
+          renderer.setAttribute(div, 'name', 'value', 'unknown');
+
+          expect(div.getAttribute('unknown:name')).toBe('value');
+        });
+
+        function shouldSetAttributeWithNs(namespace: string): void {
+          const namespaceUri = NAMESPACE_URIS[namespace];
+          const div = document.createElement('div');
+          expect(div.hasAttributeNS(namespaceUri, 'name')).toBe(false);
+
+          renderer.setAttribute(div, 'name', 'value', namespace);
+
+          expect(div.getAttributeNS(namespaceUri, 'name')).toBe('value');
+        }
+      });
+    });
+
+    describe('removeAttribute', () => {
+      describe('with namespace', () => {
+        it('xmlns', () => shouldRemoveAttributeWithNs('xmlns'));
+        it('xml', () => shouldRemoveAttributeWithNs('xml'));
+        it('svg', () => shouldRemoveAttributeWithNs('svg'));
+        it('xhtml', () => shouldRemoveAttributeWithNs('xhtml'));
+        it('xlink', () => shouldRemoveAttributeWithNs('xlink'));
+
+        it('unknown', () => {
+          const div = document.createElement('div');
+          div.setAttribute('unknown:name', 'value');
+          expect(div.hasAttribute('unknown:name')).toBe(true);
+
+          renderer.removeAttribute(div, 'name', 'unknown');
+
+          expect(div.hasAttribute('unknown:name')).toBe(false);
+        });
+
+        function shouldRemoveAttributeWithNs(namespace: string): void {
+          const namespaceUri = NAMESPACE_URIS[namespace];
+          const div = document.createElement('div');
+          div.setAttributeNS(namespaceUri, `${namespace}:name`, 'value');
+          expect(div.hasAttributeNS(namespaceUri, 'name')).toBe(true);
+
+          renderer.removeAttribute(div, 'name', namespace);
+
+          expect(div.hasAttributeNS(namespaceUri, 'name')).toBe(false);
+        }
+      });
+    });
 
     // other browsers don't support shadow dom
     if (browserDetection.isChromeDesktop) {
       it('should allow to style components with emulated encapsulation and no encapsulation inside of components with shadow DOM',
          () => {
-           TestBed.overrideComponent(CmpEncapsulationNative, {
-             set: {
-               template:
-                   '<div class="native"></div><cmp-emulated></cmp-emulated><cmp-none></cmp-none>'
-             }
-           });
-
            const fixture = TestBed.createComponent(SomeApp);
 
            const cmp = fixture.debugElement.query(By.css('cmp-native')).nativeElement;
@@ -49,7 +109,7 @@ export function main() {
 
 @Component({
   selector: 'cmp-native',
-  template: `<div class="native"></div>`,
+  template: `<div class="native"></div><cmp-emulated></cmp-emulated><cmp-none></cmp-none>`,
   styles: [`.native { color: red; }`],
   encapsulation: ViewEncapsulation.Native
 })
@@ -85,14 +145,7 @@ class CmpEncapsulationNone {
 export class SomeApp {
 }
 
-@NgModule({
-  declarations: [
-    SomeApp,
-    CmpEncapsulationNative,
-    CmpEncapsulationEmulated,
-    CmpEncapsulationNone,
-  ],
-  imports: [CommonModule]
-})
-class TestModule {
+@Component({selector: 'test-cmp', template: ''})
+class TestCmp {
+  constructor(public renderer: Renderer2) {}
 }