diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 7a146e3..60e9be6 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -43,7 +43,12 @@ module.exports.sign = function(payload, secretOrPrivateKey, options) {
   if (options.subject)
     payload.sub = options.subject;
 
-  var signed = jws.sign({header: header, payload: payload, secret: secretOrPrivateKey});
+  var encoding = 'utf8';
+  if (options.encoding) {
+    encoding = options.encoding;
+  }
+
+  var signed = jws.sign({header: header, payload: payload, secret: secretOrPrivateKey, encoding: encoding});
 
   return signed;
 };
diff --git a/test/encoding.tests.js b/test/encoding.tests.js
index 6c013a8..7a8b54a 100644
--- a/test/encoding.tests.js
+++ b/test/encoding.tests.js
@@ -8,13 +8,20 @@ describe('encoding', function() {
     return decodeURIComponent(escape(atob( str )));
   }
 
-  it('should properly encode the token', function () {
+  it('should properly encode the token (utf8)', function () {
     var expected = 'José';
     var token = jwt.sign({ name: expected }, 'shhhhh');
     var decoded_name = JSON.parse(b64_to_utf8(token.split('.')[1])).name;
     expect(decoded_name).to.equal(expected);
   });
 
+  it('should properly encode the token (binary)', function () {
+    var expected = 'José';
+    var token = jwt.sign({ name: expected }, 'shhhhh', { encoding: 'binary' });
+    var decoded_name = JSON.parse(atob(token.split('.')[1])).name;
+    expect(decoded_name).to.equal(expected);
+  });
+
   it('should return the same result when decoding', function () {
     var username = '測試';