         { [ dup 0xd3 = ] [ drop 8 read signed-be> ] }
         { [ dup 0xca = ] [ drop 4 read be> bits>float ] }
         { [ dup 0xcb = ] [ drop 8 read be> bits>double ] }
-        { [ dup 0xe0 mask 0xa0 = ] [ 0x1f mask read ] }
-        { [ dup 0xd9 = ] [ drop read1 read "" like ] }
-        { [ dup 0xda = ] [ drop 2 read be> read "" like ] }
-        { [ dup 0xdb = ] [ drop 4 read be> read "" like ] }
+        { [ dup 0xe0 mask 0xa0 = ] [ 0x1f mask read utf8 decode ] }
+        { [ dup 0xd9 = ] [ drop read1 read utf8 decode ] }
+        { [ dup 0xda = ] [ drop 2 read be> read utf8 decode ] }
+        { [ dup 0xdb = ] [ drop 4 read be> read utf8 decode ] }
         { [ dup 0xc4 = ] [ drop read1 read B{ } like ] }
         { [ dup 0xc5 = ] [ drop 2 read be> read B{ } like ] }
         { [ dup 0xc6 = ] [ drop 4 read be> read B{ } like ] }

    dup 0 >= [
        {
            { [ dup 0x7f <= ] [ write1 ] }
            { [ dup 0xff <= ] [ 0xcc write1 1 >be write ] }
            { [ dup 0xffff <= ] [ 0xcd write1 2 >be write ] }
            { [ dup 0xffffffff <= ] [ 0xce write1 4 >be write ] }
            { [ dup 0xffffffffffffffff <= ] [ 0xcf write1 8 >be write ] }

        { [ dup 0xffff <= ] [ 0xda write1 2 >be write ] }
        { [ dup 0xffffffff <= ] [ 0xdb write1 4 >be write ] }
        [ cannot-convert ]
    } cond output-stream get utf8 encode-string ;

M: byte-array write-msgpack
    dup length {
