diff --git a/include/tree_sitter/runtime.h b/include/tree_sitter/runtime.h
index 3ff70820..f0442477 100644
--- a/include/tree_sitter/runtime.h
+++ b/include/tree_sitter/runtime.h
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ void ts_parser_print_dot_graphs(TSParser *, FILE *);
 void ts_parser_halt_on_error(TSParser *, bool);
 TSTree *ts_parser_parse(TSParser *, const TSTree *, TSInput);
 TSTree *ts_parser_parse_string(TSParser *, const TSTree *, const char *, uint32_t);
+TSTree *ts_parser_parse_string_encoding(TSParser *, const TSTree *, const char *, uint32_t, TSInputEncoding);
 bool ts_parser_enabled(const TSParser *);
 void ts_parser_set_enabled(TSParser *, bool);
 size_t ts_parser_operation_limit(const TSParser *);
diff --git a/src/runtime/parser.c b/src/runtime/parser.c
index d64e8b6e..c7050ce5 100644
--- a/src/runtime/parser.c
+++ b/src/runtime/parser.c
@@ -1688,11 +1688,16 @@ TSTree *ts_parser_parse(TSParser *self, const TSTree *old_tree, TSInput input) {
 
 TSTree *ts_parser_parse_string(TSParser *self, const TSTree *old_tree,
                                const char *string, uint32_t length) {
+  return ts_parser_parse_string_encoding(self, old_tree, string, length, TSInputEncodingUTF8);
+}
+
+TSTree *ts_parser_parse_string_encoding(TSParser *self, const TSTree *old_tree,
+                                        const char *string, uint32_t length, TSInputEncoding encoding) {
   TSStringInput input = {string, length};
   return ts_parser_parse(self, old_tree, (TSInput) {
     &input,
     ts_string_input_read,
-    TSInputEncodingUTF8,
+    encoding,
   });
 }