diff --git a/custom_components/pyscript/eval.py b/custom_components/pyscript/eval.py
index a20106e..c205dc0 100644
--- a/custom_components/pyscript/eval.py
+++ b/custom_components/pyscript/eval.py
@@ -390,7 +390,10 @@ async def trigger_init(self, trig_ctx, func_name):
         }
         kwarg_check = {
             "event_trigger": {"kwargs": {dict}},
-            "mqtt_trigger": {"kwargs": {dict}},
+            "mqtt_trigger": {
+                "kwargs": {dict},
+                "encoding": {str},
+            },
             "time_trigger": {"kwargs": {dict}},
             "task_unique": {"kill_me": {bool, int}},
             "time_active": {"hold_off": {int, float}},
diff --git a/custom_components/pyscript/mqtt.py b/custom_components/pyscript/mqtt.py
index 8e15b3d..8ff413c 100644
--- a/custom_components/pyscript/mqtt.py
+++ b/custom_components/pyscript/mqtt.py
@@ -58,14 +58,14 @@ async def mqtt_message_handler(mqttmsg):
         return mqtt_message_handler
 
     @classmethod
-    async def notify_add(cls, topic, queue):
+    async def notify_add(cls, topic, queue, encoding=None):
         """Register to notify for mqtt messages of given topic to be sent to queue."""
 
         if topic not in cls.notify:
             cls.notify[topic] = set()
             _LOGGER.debug("mqtt.notify_add(%s) -> adding mqtt subscription", topic)
             cls.notify_remove[topic] = await mqtt.async_subscribe(
-                cls.hass, topic, cls.mqtt_message_handler_maker(topic), encoding="utf-8", qos=0
+                cls.hass, topic, cls.mqtt_message_handler_maker(topic), encoding=encoding or "utf-8", qos=0
             )
         cls.notify[topic].add(queue)
 
diff --git a/custom_components/pyscript/trigger.py b/custom_components/pyscript/trigger.py
index f8ffe09..9fb45ac 100644
--- a/custom_components/pyscript/trigger.py
+++ b/custom_components/pyscript/trigger.py
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ async def wait_until(
         time_trigger=None,
         event_trigger=None,
         mqtt_trigger=None,
+        mqtt_trigger_encoding=None,
         webhook_trigger=None,
         webhook_local_only=True,
         webhook_methods=None,
@@ -359,7 +360,7 @@ async def wait_until(
                     if len(state_trig_ident) > 0:
                         State.notify_del(state_trig_ident, notify_q)
                     raise exc
-            await Mqtt.notify_add(mqtt_trigger[0], notify_q)
+            await Mqtt.notify_add(mqtt_trigger[0], notify_q, encoding=mqtt_trigger_encoding)
         if webhook_trigger is not None:
             if isinstance(webhook_trigger, str):
                 webhook_trigger = [webhook_trigger]
@@ -892,6 +893,7 @@ def __init__(
         self.event_trigger_kwargs = trig_cfg.get("event_trigger", {}).get("kwargs", {})
         self.mqtt_trigger = trig_cfg.get("mqtt_trigger", {}).get("args", None)
         self.mqtt_trigger_kwargs = trig_cfg.get("mqtt_trigger", {}).get("kwargs", {})
+        self.mqtt_trigger_encoding = self.mqtt_trigger_kwargs.get("encoding", None)
         self.webhook_trigger = trig_cfg.get("webhook_trigger", {}).get("args", None)
         self.webhook_trigger_kwargs = trig_cfg.get("webhook_trigger", {}).get("kwargs", {})
         self.webhook_local_only = self.webhook_trigger_kwargs.get("local_only", True)
@@ -1082,7 +1084,7 @@ async def trigger_watch(self):
                 Event.notify_add(self.event_trigger[0], self.notify_q)
             if self.mqtt_trigger is not None:
                 _LOGGER.debug("trigger %s adding mqtt_trigger %s", self.name, self.mqtt_trigger[0])
-                await Mqtt.notify_add(self.mqtt_trigger[0], self.notify_q)
+                await Mqtt.notify_add(self.mqtt_trigger[0], self.notify_q, encoding=self.mqtt_trigger_encoding)
             if self.webhook_trigger is not None:
                 _LOGGER.debug("trigger %s adding webhook_trigger %s", self.name, self.webhook_trigger[0])
                 Webhook.notify_add(
diff --git a/docs/reference.rst b/docs/reference.rst
index 005ba84..feb2868 100644
--- a/docs/reference.rst
+++ b/docs/reference.rst
@@ -806,7 +806,7 @@ more examples of built-in and user events and how to create triggers for them.
 
 .. code:: python
 
-    @mqtt_trigger(topic, str_expr=None, kwargs=None)
+    @mqtt_trigger(topic, str_expr=None, encoding="utf-8", kwargs=None)
 
 ``@mqtt_trigger`` subscribes to the given MQTT ``topic`` and triggers whenever a message is received
 on that topic. Multiple ``@mqtt_trigger`` decorators can be applied to a single function if you want
@@ -816,6 +816,9 @@ An optional ``str_expr`` can be used to match the MQTT message data, and the tri
 if that expression evaluates to ``True`` or non-zero. This expression has available these
 variables:
 
+An optional ``encoding`` argument specifies the character encoding used to decode the MQTT payload
+(default is **"utf-8"**). It can be explicitly set to other encodings if necessary.
+
 - ``trigger_type`` is set to "mqtt".
 - ``topic`` is set to the topic the message was received on.
 - ``qos`` is set to the message QoS.