diff --git a/dist/bert.js b/dist/bert.js
index 19305cf..9d3ba64 100644
--- a/dist/bert.js
+++ b/dist/bert.js
@@ -282,12 +282,12 @@ export class Bert {
     };
     decode_binary = (buffer) => {
         const size = this.bytesToInt(buffer, 4, true);
-        buffer = Buffer.from(buffer, 4);
+        buffer = buffer.subarray(4);
         const bin = Buffer.alloc(size);
         buffer.copy(bin, 0, 0, size);
         return {
             value: this.convention === Lang.ELIXIR && this.allBinariesAsString
-                ? bin.toString()
+                ? bin.toString("utf-8")
                 : bin,
             rest: buffer.subarray(size),
         };
diff --git a/src/bert.ts b/src/bert.ts
index 7d0b61b..c249cdb 100644
--- a/src/bert.ts
+++ b/src/bert.ts
@@ -328,13 +328,13 @@ export class Bert {
 
     decode_binary = (buffer: Buffer) => {
         const size = this.bytesToInt(buffer, 4, true);
-        buffer = Buffer.from(buffer, 4);
+        buffer = buffer.subarray(4);
         const bin = Buffer.alloc(size);
         buffer.copy(bin, 0, 0, size);
         return {
             value:
                 this.convention === Lang.ELIXIR && this.allBinariesAsString
-                    ? bin.toString()
+                    ? bin.toString("utf-8")
                     : bin,
             rest: buffer.subarray(size),
         };