diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index 68cebedcc97ef4..0aa9e2001bd9d7 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -427,7 +427,7 @@ Buffer.compare = function compare(a, b) {
 
 
 Buffer.isEncoding = function isEncoding(encoding) {
-  return typeof encoding === 'string' &&
+  return typeof encoding === 'string' && encoding.length !== 0 &&
          normalizeEncoding(encoding) !== undefined;
 };
 Buffer[kIsEncodingSymbol] = Buffer.isEncoding;