diff --git a/lib/core/byte-data.js b/lib/core/byte-data.js
index 778181c9..289a601f 100644
--- a/lib/core/byte-data.js
+++ b/lib/core/byte-data.js
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@ const Mode = require('./mode')
 
 function ByteData (data) {
   this.mode = Mode.BYTE
-  this.data = new Uint8Array(encodeUtf8(data))
+  if (typeof (data) === 'string') {
+    data = encodeUtf8(data)
+  }
+  this.data = new Uint8Array(data)
 }
 
 ByteData.getBitsLength = function getBitsLength (length) {