diff --git a/API.md b/API.md
index b74d8782..90345432 100755
--- a/API.md
+++ b/API.md
@@ -3085,7 +3085,7 @@ Requires the string value to be a valid [RFC 3986](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rf
     - `relativeOnly` - Restrict only relative URIs.  Defaults to `false`.
     - `allowQuerySquareBrackets` - Allows unencoded square brackets inside the query string. This is **NOT** RFC 3986 compliant but query strings like `abc[]=123&abc[]=456` are very common these days. Defaults to `false`.
     - `domain` - Validate the domain component using the options specified in [`string.domain()`](#stringdomainoptions).
-    - `encodeUri` - Encodes the uri with non-alphabetical characters. Defaults to `false`.
+    - `encodeUri` - When `convert` is true, if the validation fails, attempts to encode the URI using [`encodeURI`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/encodeURI) before validating it again. This allows to provide, for example, unicode URIs, and have it encoded for you. Defaults to `false`.
 
 ```js
 // Accept git or git http/https
diff --git a/lib/types/string.js b/lib/types/string.js
index 5ddbe6d5..7ce018c6 100755
--- a/lib/types/string.js
+++ b/lib/types/string.js
@@ -665,11 +665,16 @@ module.exports = Any.extend({
                     return helpers.error('string.uri');
                 }
 
-                if (helpers.prefs.convert && options.encodeUri) {
-                    value = encodeURI(value);
+                let match = regex.exec(value);
+
+                if (!match && helpers.prefs.convert && options.encodeUri) {
+                    const encoded = encodeURI(value);
+                    match = regex.exec(encoded);
+                    if (match) {
+                        value = encoded;
+                    }
                 }
 
-                const match = regex.exec(value);
                 if (match) {
                     const matched = match[1] || match[2];
                     if (domain &&
@@ -690,10 +695,6 @@ module.exports = Any.extend({
                     return helpers.error('string.uriCustomScheme', { scheme, value });
                 }
 
-                if (options.encodeUri) {
-                    return helpers.error('string.uriEncoding');
-                }
-
                 return helpers.error('string.uri');
             }
         }
@@ -744,7 +745,6 @@ module.exports = Any.extend({
         'string.uri': '{{#label}} must be a valid uri',
         'string.uriCustomScheme': '{{#label}} must be a valid uri with a scheme matching the {{#scheme}} pattern',
         'string.uriRelativeOnly': '{{#label}} must be a valid relative uri',
-        'string.uriEncoding': '{{#label}} must contain only valid characters or "convert" must be allowed',
         'string.uppercase': '{{#label}} must only contain uppercase characters'
     }
 });
diff --git a/test/types/string.js b/test/types/string.js
index ac96dae3..483a4233 100755
--- a/test/types/string.js
+++ b/test/types/string.js
@@ -9017,7 +9017,43 @@ describe('string', () => {
             const schema = Joi.string().uri({ encodeUri: true });
 
             Helper.validate(schema, { convert: true }, [
-                ['https://linkedin.com/in/aïssa/', true, 'https://linkedin.com/in/a%C3%AFssa/']
+                ['https://linkedin.com/in/aïssa/', true, 'https://linkedin.com/in/a%C3%AFssa/'],
+                ['https://linkedin.com/in/a%C3%AFssa/', true, 'https://linkedin.com/in/a%C3%AFssa/'],
+                ['/#.domain.com/', false, {
+                    message: '"value" must be a valid uri',
+                    path: [],
+                    type: 'string.uri',
+                    context: { label: 'value', value: '/#.domain.com/' }
+                }]
+            ]);
+        });
+
+        it('validates relative uri with accented characters with encoding', () => {
+
+            const schema = Joi.string().uri({ encodeUri: true, allowRelative: true });
+
+            Helper.validate(schema, { convert: true }, [
+                ['/in/aïssa/', true, '/in/a%C3%AFssa/'],
+                ['/in/a%C3%AFssa/', true, '/in/a%C3%AFssa/']
+            ]);
+        });
+
+        it('validates uri with encodeUri and scheme', () => {
+
+            const schema = Joi.string().uri({ encodeUri: true, scheme: 'https' });
+
+            Helper.validate(schema, { convert: true }, [
+                ['https://linkedin.com/in/aïssa/', true, 'https://linkedin.com/in/a%C3%AFssa/'],
+                ['http://linkedin.com/in/aïssa/', false, {
+                    message: '"value" must be a valid uri with a scheme matching the https pattern',
+                    path: [],
+                    type: 'string.uriCustomScheme',
+                    context: {
+                        scheme: 'https',
+                        value: 'http://linkedin.com/in/aïssa/',
+                        label: 'value'
+                    }
+                }]
             ]);
         });
 
@@ -9027,9 +9063,9 @@ describe('string', () => {
 
             Helper.validate(schema, { convert: false }, [
                 ['https://linkedin.com/in/aïssa/', false, {
-                    message: '"value" must contain only valid characters or "convert" must be allowed',
+                    message: '"value" must be a valid uri',
                     path: [],
-                    type: 'string.uriEncoding',
+                    type: 'string.uri',
                     context: { value: 'https://linkedin.com/in/aïssa/', label: 'value' }
                 }]
             ]);