diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/PDF417Writer.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/PDF417Writer.java
index b5c2be96e..0b4526c47 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/PDF417Writer.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/PDF417Writer.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import com.google.zxing.pdf417.encoder.Compaction;
 import com.google.zxing.pdf417.encoder.Dimensions;
 import com.google.zxing.pdf417.encoder.PDF417;
 
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 /**
@@ -68,6 +69,10 @@ public final class PDF417Writer implements Writer {
       if (hints.containsKey(EncodeHintType.MARGIN)) {
         margin = ((Number) hints.get(EncodeHintType.MARGIN)).intValue();
       }
+      if (hints.containsKey(EncodeHintType.CHARACTER_SET)) {
+        String encoding = (String) hints.get(EncodeHintType.CHARACTER_SET);
+        encoder.setEncoding(Charset.forName(encoding));
+      }
     }
 
     return bitMatrixFromEncoder(encoder, contents, width, height, margin);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417.java
index aec15184e..436080f29 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417.java
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ package com.google.zxing.pdf417.encoder;
 
 import com.google.zxing.WriterException;
 
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+
 /**
  * Top-level class for the logic part of the PDF417 implementation.
  */
@@ -513,6 +515,7 @@ public final class PDF417 {
   private BarcodeMatrix barcodeMatrix;
   private boolean compact;
   private Compaction compaction;
+  private Charset encoding;
   private int minCols;
   private int maxCols;
   private int maxRows;
@@ -525,6 +528,7 @@ public final class PDF417 {
   public PDF417(boolean compact) {
     this.compact = compact;
     compaction = Compaction.AUTO;
+    encoding = PDF417HighLevelEncoder.DEFAULT_ENCODING;
     minCols = 2;
     maxCols = 30;
     maxRows = 30;
@@ -642,7 +646,7 @@ public final class PDF417 {
 
     //1. step: High-level encoding
     int errorCorrectionCodeWords = PDF417ErrorCorrection.getErrorCorrectionCodewordCount(errorCorrectionLevel);
-    String highLevel = PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(msg, compaction);
+    String highLevel = PDF417HighLevelEncoder.encodeHighLevel(msg, compaction, encoding);
     int sourceCodeWords = highLevel.length();
 
     int[] dimension = determineDimensions(sourceCodeWords, errorCorrectionCodeWords);
@@ -749,5 +753,12 @@ public final class PDF417 {
     this.compact = compact;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Sets output encoding.
+   */
+  public void setEncoding(Charset encoding) {
+    this.encoding = encoding;
+  }
+
 }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java
index 991d941f7..fad04e5d8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/google/zxing/pdf417/encoder/PDF417HighLevelEncoder.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 package com.google.zxing.pdf417.encoder;
 
 import com.google.zxing.WriterException;
+import com.google.zxing.common.CharacterSetECI;
 
 import java.math.BigInteger;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
@@ -92,6 +93,21 @@ final class PDF417HighLevelEncoder {
    */
   private static final int LATCH_TO_BYTE = 924;
 
+  /**
+   * identifier for a user defined Extended Channel Interpretation (ECI)
+   */
+  private static final int ECI_USER_DEFINED = 925;
+  
+  /**
+   * identifier for a general purpose ECO format
+   */
+  private static final int ECI_GENERAL_PURPOSE = 926;
+  
+  /** 
+   * identifier for an ECI of a character set of code page
+   */
+  private static final int ECI_CHARSET = 927;
+
   /**
    * Raw code table for text compaction Mixed sub-mode
    */
@@ -132,17 +148,6 @@ final class PDF417HighLevelEncoder {
     }
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Converts the message to a byte array using the default encoding (Cp437) as defined by the
-   * specification
-   *
-   * @param msg the message
-   * @return the byte array of the message
-   */
-  private static byte[] getBytesForMessage(String msg) {
-    return msg.getBytes(DEFAULT_ENCODING);
-  }
-
   /**
    * Performs high-level encoding of a PDF417 message using the algorithm described in annex P
    * of ISO/IEC 15438:2001(E). If byte compaction has been selected, then only byte compaction
@@ -151,22 +156,29 @@ final class PDF417HighLevelEncoder {
    * @param msg the message
    * @return the encoded message (the char values range from 0 to 928)
    */
-  static String encodeHighLevel(String msg, Compaction compaction) throws WriterException {
-    byte[] bytes = null; //Fill later and only if needed
+  static String encodeHighLevel(String msg, Compaction compaction, Charset encoding) throws WriterException {
 
     //the codewords 0..928 are encoded as Unicode characters
     StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(msg.length());
 
+    if (!DEFAULT_ENCODING.equals(encoding)) {
+      CharacterSetECI eci = CharacterSetECI.getCharacterSetECIByName(encoding.name());
+      if (eci != null) {
+        encodingECI(eci.getValue(), sb);
+      }
+    }
+
     int len = msg.length();
     int p = 0;
     int textSubMode = SUBMODE_ALPHA;
 
     // User selected encoding mode
+    byte[] bytes = null; //Fill later and only if needed
     if (compaction == Compaction.TEXT) {
       encodeText(msg, p, len, sb, textSubMode);
 
     } else if (compaction == Compaction.BYTE) {
-      bytes = getBytesForMessage(msg);
+      bytes = msg.getBytes(encoding);
       encodeBinary(bytes, p, bytes.length, BYTE_COMPACTION, sb);
 
     } else if (compaction == Compaction.NUMERIC) {
@@ -195,7 +207,7 @@ final class PDF417HighLevelEncoder {
             p += t;
           } else {
             if (bytes == null) {
-              bytes = getBytesForMessage(msg);
+              bytes = msg.getBytes(encoding);
             }
             int b = determineConsecutiveBinaryCount(msg, bytes, p);
             if (b == 0) {
@@ -562,5 +574,20 @@ final class PDF417HighLevelEncoder {
     return idx - startpos;
   }
 
+  private static void encodingECI(int eci, StringBuilder sb) throws WriterException {
+    if (eci >= 0 && eci < 900) {
+      sb.append((char) ECI_CHARSET);
+      sb.append((char) eci);
+    } else if (eci < 810900) {
+      sb.append((char) ECI_GENERAL_PURPOSE);
+      sb.append((char) (eci / 900 - 1));
+      sb.append((char) (eci % 900));
+    } else if (eci < 811800) {
+      sb.append((char) ECI_USER_DEFINED);
+      sb.append((char) (810900 - eci));
+    } else {
+      throw new WriterException("ECI number not in valid range from 0..811799, but was " + eci);
+    }
+  }
 
 }