diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6382957..e631623 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ target_sources(vm_lib
   src/common.cpp
   src/arena.cpp
   src/reader.cpp
+  src/utf8.cpp
 
   PUBLIC
   FILE_SET HEADERS
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ target_sources(vm_lib
   src/vm.hpp
   src/sourcerange.hpp
   src/reader.hpp
+  src/utf8.hpp
 )
 
 add_executable(vli src/vli.cpp)
diff --git a/src/common.cpp b/src/common.cpp
index 79cfc51..2cd7772 100644
--- a/src/common.cpp
+++ b/src/common.cpp
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 #include "arena.hpp"
 #include "error.hpp"
 #include "pod.hpp"
+#include "utf8.hpp"
 
 Syntax::Syntax(String filename, String modulename, Value expression) {}
 
@@ -45,6 +46,24 @@ Result<Symbol> Symbol::create(Arena& arena, String& rhs) {
   return Symbol(TRY(MkGcRoot(pod, arena)));
 }
 
+Result<ByteArray> ByteArray::create(Arena& arena, String& str) {
+  uint64_t size = 0;
+  for (uint64_t i = 0; i < str.size(); i++) {
+    size += utf8_codepoint_size(TRY(str[i]));
+  }
+  auto pod = TRY(arena.alloc<PodByteArray>(size * sizeof(char)));
+
+  char* res = pod->data;
+  for (uint64_t i = 0; i < str.size(); i++) {
+    char32_t codepoint = TRY(str[i]);
+    size = utf8_codepoint_size(codepoint);
+    res = utf8_write_codepoint(res, codepoint);
+  }
+  pod->size = size;
+
+  return ByteArray(TRY(MkGcRoot(pod, arena)));
+}
+
 Result<Value> syntax_unwrap(Arena& arena, Value& val) {
   Syntax* syntax = val.to<Syntax>();
   if (syntax == 0) return val.copy(arena);
diff --git a/src/common.hpp b/src/common.hpp
index 0733e39..41aaa98 100644
--- a/src/common.hpp
+++ b/src/common.hpp
@@ -7,10 +7,12 @@
 
 #include "arena.hpp"
 #include "pod.hpp"
+#include "utf8.hpp"
 
 // Forward declarations
 
 class Value;
+class String;
 
 class Object {
  public:
@@ -83,10 +85,12 @@ class ByteArray : public Object {
     return ByteArray(TRY(MkGcRoot(pod, arena)));
   }
 
+  static Result<ByteArray> create(Arena& arena, String& str);
+
   uint64_t size() { return _value->size; }
   virtual Result<Value> copy(Arena& arena) final;
 
-  Result<char32_t> operator[](uint64_t idx) {
+  Result<char> operator[](uint64_t idx) {
     if (idx >= _value->size) return ErrorCode::IndexOutOfRange;
     return _value->data[idx];
   }
diff --git a/src/utf8.cpp b/src/utf8.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e4f7824
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utf8.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#include "utf8.hpp"
+
+size_t utf8_codepoint_size(char32_t codepoint) {
+  if (0 == ((char32_t)0xffffff80 & codepoint)) {
+    return 1;
+  } else if (0 == ((char32_t)0xfffff800 & codepoint)) {
+    return 2;
+  } else if (0 == ((char32_t)0xffff0000 & codepoint)) {
+    return 3;
+  } else {
+    return 4;
+  }
+}
+
+char *utf8_write_codepoint(char *str, char32_t codepoint) {
+  if (0 == ((char32_t)0xffffff80 & codepoint)) {
+    /* 1-byte/7-bit ascii
+     * (0b0xxxxxxx) */
+    str[0] = (char)codepoint;
+    str += 1;
+  } else if (0 == ((char32_t)0xfffff800 & codepoint)) {
+    /* 2-byte/11-bit utf8 code point
+     * (0b110xxxxx 0b10xxxxxx) */
+    str[0] = (char)(0xc0 | (char)((codepoint >> 6) & 0x1f));
+    str[1] = (char)(0x80 | (char)(codepoint & 0x3f));
+    str += 2;
+  } else if (0 == ((char32_t)0xffff0000 & codepoint)) {
+    /* 3-byte/16-bit utf8 code point
+     * (0b1110xxxx 0b10xxxxxx 0b10xxxxxx) */
+    str[0] = (char)(0xe0 | (char)((codepoint >> 12) & 0x0f));
+    str[1] = (char)(0x80 | (char)((codepoint >> 6) & 0x3f));
+    str[2] = (char)(0x80 | (char)(codepoint & 0x3f));
+    str += 3;
+  } else { /* if (0 == ((int)0xffe00000 & chr)) { */
+    str[0] = (char)(0xf0 | (char)((codepoint >> 18) & 0x07));
+    str[1] = (char)(0x80 | (char)((codepoint >> 12) & 0x3f));
+    str[2] = (char)(0x80 | (char)((codepoint >> 6) & 0x3f));
+    str[3] = (char)(0x80 | (char)(codepoint & 0x3f));
+    str += 4;
+  }
+
+  return str;
+}
diff --git a/src/utf8.hpp b/src/utf8.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fdba560
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utf8.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <cstddef>
+
+size_t utf8_codepoint_size(char32_t codepoint);
+char *utf8_write_codepoint(char *str, char32_t codepoint);