diff --git a/lib/ruby/shared/openssl/pkcs12.rb b/lib/ruby/shared/openssl/pkcs12.rb
index e11fb49065f..adb7c33be85 100644
--- a/lib/ruby/shared/openssl/pkcs12.rb
+++ b/lib/ruby/shared/openssl/pkcs12.rb
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ def initialize(str = nil, password = '')
         @der = file.read
         file.close
       else
+        str.force_encoding(Encoding::ASCII_8BIT)
         @der = str
       end
 
diff --git a/test/mri/openssl/test_pkcs12.rb b/test/mri/openssl/test_pkcs12.rb
index cdc00b2d3a3..da1de167a7c 100644
--- a/test/mri/openssl/test_pkcs12.rb
+++ b/test/mri/openssl/test_pkcs12.rb
@@ -52,31 +52,28 @@ def setup
     end
 
     def test_create
-      pkcs12 = OpenSSL::PKCS12.create(
-        "omg",
-        "hello",
-        TEST_KEY_RSA1024,
-        @mycert
-      )
+      pkcs12 = create_store
       assert_equal @mycert, pkcs12.certificate
       assert_equal TEST_KEY_RSA1024, pkcs12.key
       assert_nil pkcs12.ca_certs
     end
 
-    def test_load
-      temp = OpenSSL::PKCS12.create(
-          "omg",
-          "hello",
-          TEST_KEY_RSA1024,
-          @mycert
-      )
-
-      Tempfile.open('test_cert.pk12') do |f|
-        f << temp.to_der
-        f.rewind
+    def test_from_file
+      tempfile do |f|
         OpenSSL::PKCS12.new(f, 'omg')
       end
+    end
 
+    def test_from_ascii_string
+      tempfile do |f|
+        OpenSSL::PKCS12.new(f.read.force_encoding(Encoding::ASCII_8BIT), 'omg')
+      end
+    end
+
+    def test_from_utf8_string
+     tempfile do |f|
+        OpenSSL::PKCS12.new(f.read.force_encoding(Encoding::UTF_8), 'omg')
+      end
     end
 
     def test_create_no_pass
@@ -219,6 +216,23 @@ def assert_include_cert cert, ary
       false
     end
 
+    def create_store
+      OpenSSL::PKCS12.create(
+        "omg",
+        "hello",
+        TEST_KEY_RSA1024,
+        @mycert
+      )
+    end
+
+    def tempfile store=create_store
+      Tempfile.open('test_cert.pk12') do |f|
+        f << store.to_der
+        f.rewind
+        yield f
+      end
+    end
+
   end
 end