diff --git a/fastbencode/_bencode_py.py b/fastbencode/_bencode_py.py
index 6bd4ef3..279d545 100644
--- a/fastbencode/_bencode_py.py
+++ b/fastbencode/_bencode_py.py
@@ -21,13 +21,14 @@
 
 class BDecoder:
 
-    def __init__(self, yield_tuples=False) -> None:
+    def __init__(self, yield_tuples=False, bytestring_encoding=None) -> None:
         """Constructor.
 
         :param yield_tuples: if true, decode "l" elements as tuples rather than
             lists.
         """
         self.yield_tuples = yield_tuples
+        self.bytestring_encoding = bytestring_encoding
         decode_func = {}
         decode_func[b'l'] = self.decode_list
         decode_func[b'd'] = self.decode_dict
@@ -60,7 +61,10 @@ def decode_bytes(self, x, f):
         if x[f:f + 1] == b'0' and colon != f + 1:
             raise ValueError
         colon += 1
-        return (x[colon:colon + n], colon + n)
+        d = x[colon:colon + n]
+        if self.bytestring_encoding:
+            d = d.decode(self.bytestring_encoding)
+        return (d, colon + n)
 
     def decode_list(self, x, f):
         r, f = [], f + 1
@@ -100,6 +104,9 @@ def bdecode(self, x):
 _tuple_decoder = BDecoder(True)
 bdecode_as_tuple = _tuple_decoder.bdecode
 
+_utf8_decoder = BDecoder(bytestring_encoding='utf-8')
+bdecode_utf8 = _utf8_decoder.bdecode
+
 
 class Bencached:
     __slots__ = ['bencoded']
diff --git a/fastbencode/_bencode_pyx.pyx b/fastbencode/_bencode_pyx.pyx
index 0ca90dd..025bca4 100644
--- a/fastbencode/_bencode_pyx.pyx
+++ b/fastbencode/_bencode_pyx.pyx
@@ -46,15 +46,21 @@ from cpython.mem cimport (
     PyMem_Malloc,
     PyMem_Realloc,
     )
+from cpython.unicode cimport (
+    PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject,
+    PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize,
+    )
 from cpython.tuple cimport (
     PyTuple_CheckExact,
     )
 
 from libc.stdlib cimport (
     strtol,
+    free,
     )
 from libc.string cimport (
     memcpy,
+    strdup,
     )
 
 cdef extern from "python-compat.h":
@@ -79,9 +85,10 @@ cdef class Decoder:
     cdef readonly char *tail
     cdef readonly int size
     cdef readonly int _yield_tuples
+    cdef readonly char *_bytestring_encoding
     cdef object text
 
-    def __init__(self, s, yield_tuples=0):
+    def __init__(self, s, yield_tuples=0, str bytestring_encoding=None):
         """Initialize decoder engine.
         @param  s:  Python string.
         """
@@ -92,6 +99,13 @@ cdef class Decoder:
         self.tail = PyBytes_AS_STRING(s)
         self.size = PyBytes_GET_SIZE(s)
         self._yield_tuples = int(yield_tuples)
+        if bytestring_encoding is None:
+            self._bytestring_encoding = NULL
+        else:
+            self._bytestring_encoding = strdup(bytestring_encoding.encode('utf-8'))
+
+    def __dealloc__(self):
+        free(self._bytestring_encoding)
 
     def decode(self):
         result = self._decode_object()
@@ -171,13 +185,22 @@ cdef class Decoder:
             raise ValueError('leading zeros are not allowed')
         D_UPDATE_TAIL(self, next_tail - self.tail + 1)
         if n == 0:
-            return b''
+            if self._bytestring_encoding == NULL:
+                return b''
+            else:
+                return ''
         if n > self.size:
             raise ValueError('stream underflow')
         if n < 0:
             raise ValueError('string size below zero: %d' % n)
 
-        result = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(self.tail, n)
+        if self._bytestring_encoding == NULL:
+            result = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(self.tail, n)
+        elif self._bytestring_encoding == b'utf-8':
+            result = PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(self.tail, n)
+        else:
+            result = PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(self.tail, n)
+            result = PyUnicode_FromEncodedObject(result, self._bytestring_encoding, NULL)
         D_UPDATE_TAIL(self, n)
         return result
 
@@ -235,6 +258,11 @@ def bdecode_as_tuple(object s):
     return Decoder(s, True).decode()
 
 
+def bdecode_utf8(object s):
+    """Decode string x to Python object, decoding bytestrings as UTF8 strings."""
+    return Decoder(s, bytestring_encoding='utf-8').decode()
+
+
 class Bencached(object):
     __slots__ = ['bencoded']
 
diff --git a/fastbencode/tests/test_bencode.py b/fastbencode/tests/test_bencode.py
index 61cd8b5..7073f42 100644
--- a/fastbencode/tests/test_bencode.py
+++ b/fastbencode/tests/test_bencode.py
@@ -351,6 +351,46 @@ def test_decoder_type_error(self):
         self.assertRaises(TypeError, self.module.bdecode, 1)
 
 
+class TestBdecodeUtf8(TestCase):
+
+    module = None
+
+    def _check(self, expected, source):
+        self.assertEqual(expected, self.module.bdecode_utf8(source))
+
+    def _run_check_error(self, exc, bad):
+        """Check that bdecoding a string raises a particular exception."""
+        self.assertRaises(exc, self.module.bdecode_utf8, bad)
+
+    def test_string(self):
+        self._check('', b'0:')
+        self._check('aäc', b'4:a\xc3\xa4c')
+        self._check('1234567890', b'10:1234567890')
+
+    def test_large_string(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.module.bdecode_utf8, b"2147483639:foo")
+
+    def test_malformed_string(self):
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'10:x')
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'10:')
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'10')
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'01:x')
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'00:')
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'35208734823ljdahflajhdf')
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'432432432432432:foo')
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b' 1:x')  # leading whitespace
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'-1:x')  # negative
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'1 x')  # space vs colon
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, b'1x')  # missing colon
+        self._run_check_error(ValueError, (b'1' * 1000) + b':')
+
+    def test_empty_string(self):
+        self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.module.bdecode_utf8, b'')
+
+    def test_invalid_utf8(self):
+        self._run_check_error(UnicodeDecodeError, b'3:\xff\xfe\xfd')
+
+
 class TestBencodeEncode(TestCase):
 
     module = None