--- CBOR-XS/XS.xs	2016/02/25 02:29:22	1.50
+++ CBOR-XS/XS.xs	2016/04/24 13:15:19	1.51
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@
 #define F_ALLOW_SHARING   0x00000004UL
 #define F_ALLOW_CYCLES    0x00000008UL
 #define F_PACK_STRINGS    0x00000010UL
-#define F_VALIDATE_UTF8   0x00000020UL
+#define F_UTF8_STRINGS    0x00000020UL
+#define F_VALIDATE_UTF8   0x00000040UL
 
 #define INIT_SIZE   32 // initial scalar size to be allocated
 
@@ -281,6 +282,19 @@
 ecb_inline void
 encode_str (enc_t *enc, int utf8, char *str, STRLEN len)
 {
+  if (ecb_expect_false (enc->cbor.flags & F_UTF8_STRINGS))
+    if (!utf8)
+      {
+        SV *sv = sv_newmortal ();
+        char *s; STRLEN l;
+
+        sv_setpvn (sv, str, len);
+
+        s = SvPVutf8 (sv, l);
+        encode_str (enc, 1, s, l);
+        return;
+      }
+
   encode_uint (enc, utf8 ? MAJOR_TEXT : MAJOR_BYTES, len);
   need (enc, len);
   memcpy (enc->cur, str, len);
@@ -1392,6 +1406,7 @@
         allow_sharing   = F_ALLOW_SHARING
         allow_cycles    = F_ALLOW_CYCLES
         pack_strings    = F_PACK_STRINGS
+        utf8_strings    = F_UTF8_STRINGS
         validate_utf8   = F_VALIDATE_UTF8
 	PPCODE:
 {