diff --git a/tests/snippets/strings.py b/tests/snippets/strings.py
index 786622e9f5..aaeaed5f3e 100644
--- a/tests/snippets/strings.py
+++ b/tests/snippets/strings.py
@@ -206,3 +206,13 @@ def try_mutate_str():
    word[0] = 'x'
 
 assert_raises(TypeError, try_mutate_str)
+
+ss = ['Hello', '안녕', '👋']
+bs = [b'Hello', b'\xec\x95\x88\xeb\x85\x95', b'\xf0\x9f\x91\x8b']
+
+for s, b in zip(ss, bs):
+    assert s.encode() == b
+
+for s, b, e in zip(ss, bs, ['u8', 'U8', 'utf-8', 'UTF-8', 'utf_8']):
+    assert s.encode(e) == b
+    # assert s.encode(encoding=e) == b
diff --git a/vm/src/function.rs b/vm/src/function.rs
index 47fc051d59..22802ac1fa 100644
--- a/vm/src/function.rs
+++ b/vm/src/function.rs
@@ -374,6 +374,17 @@ impl<T> OptionalArg<T> {
             Missing => f(),
         }
     }
+
+    pub fn map_or_else<U, D, F>(self, default: D, f: F) -> U
+    where
+        D: FnOnce() -> U,
+        F: FnOnce(T) -> U,
+    {
+        match self {
+            Present(value) => f(value),
+            Missing => default(),
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 impl<T> FromArgs for OptionalArg<T>
diff --git a/vm/src/obj/objbyteinner.rs b/vm/src/obj/objbyteinner.rs
index e420fa038b..32a58255f8 100644
--- a/vm/src/obj/objbyteinner.rs
+++ b/vm/src/obj/objbyteinner.rs
@@ -74,24 +74,33 @@ pub struct ByteInnerNewOptions {
     encoding: OptionalArg<PyStringRef>,
 }
 
+//same algorithm as cpython
+pub fn normalize_encoding(encoding: &str) -> String {
+    let mut res = String::new();
+    let mut punct = false;
+
+    for c in encoding.chars() {
+        if c.is_alphanumeric() || c == '.' {
+            if punct && !res.is_empty() {
+                res.push('_')
+            }
+            res.push(c.to_ascii_lowercase());
+            punct = false;
+        } else {
+            punct = true;
+        }
+    }
+    res
+}
+
 impl ByteInnerNewOptions {
     pub fn get_value(self, vm: &VirtualMachine) -> PyResult<PyByteInner> {
         // First handle bytes(string, encoding[, errors])
         if let OptionalArg::Present(enc) = self.encoding {
             if let OptionalArg::Present(eval) = self.val_option {
                 if let Ok(input) = eval.downcast::<PyString>() {
-                    let encoding = enc.as_str();
-                    if encoding.to_lowercase() == "utf8" || encoding.to_lowercase() == "utf-8"
-                    // TODO: different encoding
-                    {
-                        return Ok(PyByteInner {
-                            elements: input.value.as_bytes().to_vec(),
-                        });
-                    } else {
-                        return Err(
-                            vm.new_value_error(format!("unknown encoding: {}", encoding)), //should be lookup error
-                        );
-                    }
+                    let inner = PyByteInner::from_string(&input.value, enc.as_str(), vm)?;
+                    return Ok(inner);
                 } else {
                     return Err(vm.new_type_error("encoding without a string argument".to_string()));
                 }
@@ -311,6 +320,20 @@ impl ByteInnerSplitlinesOptions {
 }
 
 impl PyByteInner {
+    pub fn from_string(value: &str, encoding: &str, vm: &VirtualMachine) -> PyResult<Self> {
+        let normalized = normalize_encoding(encoding);
+        if normalized == "utf_8" || normalized == "utf8" || normalized == "u8" {
+            Ok(PyByteInner {
+                elements: value.as_bytes().to_vec(),
+            })
+        } else {
+            // TODO: different encoding
+            Err(
+                vm.new_value_error(format!("unknown encoding: {}", encoding)), // should be lookup error
+            )
+        }
+    }
+
     pub fn repr(&self) -> PyResult<String> {
         let mut res = String::with_capacity(self.elements.len());
         for i in self.elements.iter() {
diff --git a/vm/src/obj/objbytes.rs b/vm/src/obj/objbytes.rs
index dd2e1518c0..33016e511a 100644
--- a/vm/src/obj/objbytes.rs
+++ b/vm/src/obj/objbytes.rs
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ impl PyBytes {
             inner: PyByteInner { elements },
         }
     }
+
+    pub fn from_string(value: &str, encoding: &str, vm: &VirtualMachine) -> PyResult<Self> {
+        Ok(PyBytes {
+            inner: PyByteInner::from_string(value, encoding, vm)?,
+        })
+    }
+
     pub fn get_value(&self) -> &[u8] {
         &self.inner.elements
     }
diff --git a/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs b/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs
index 6545c99858..b0d19e9c3f 100644
--- a/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs
+++ b/vm/src/obj/objstr.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ use crate::pyobject::{
 };
 use crate::vm::VirtualMachine;
 
+use super::objbytes::PyBytes;
 use super::objdict::PyDict;
 use super::objint::{self, PyInt};
 use super::objnone::PyNone;
@@ -957,6 +958,31 @@ impl PyString {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    #[pymethod]
+    fn encode(
+        &self,
+        encoding: OptionalArg<PyObjectRef>,
+        _errors: OptionalArg<PyObjectRef>,
+        vm: &VirtualMachine,
+    ) -> PyResult {
+        let encoding = encoding.map_or_else(
+            || Ok("utf-8".to_string()),
+            |v| {
+                if objtype::isinstance(&v, &vm.ctx.str_type()) {
+                    Ok(get_value(&v))
+                } else {
+                    Err(vm.new_type_error(format!(
+                        "encode() argument 1 must be str, not {}",
+                        v.class().name
+                    )))
+                }
+            },
+        )?;
+
+        let encoded = PyBytes::from_string(&self.value, &encoding, vm)?;
+        Ok(encoded.into_pyobject(vm)?)
+    }
 }
 
 impl PyValue for PyString {