diff --git a/lib/fs.js b/lib/fs.js
index 0025e6a69de2ef..f54c3901a6e10e 100644
--- a/lib/fs.js
+++ b/lib/fs.js
@@ -1615,8 +1615,15 @@ function ReadStream(path, options) {
   if (!(this instanceof ReadStream))
     return new ReadStream(path, options);
 
+  if (options === undefined)
+    options = {};
+  else if (typeof options === 'string')
+    options = { encoding: options };
+  else if (typeof options !== 'object')
+    throw new TypeError('options must be a string or an object');
+
   // a little bit bigger buffer and water marks by default
-  options = Object.create(options || {});
+  options = Object.create(options);
   if (options.highWaterMark === undefined)
     options.highWaterMark = 64 * 1024;
 
@@ -1781,7 +1788,12 @@ function WriteStream(path, options) {
   if (!(this instanceof WriteStream))
     return new WriteStream(path, options);
 
-  options = options || {};
+  if (options === undefined || options === null)
+    options = {};
+  else if (typeof options === 'string')
+    options = { encoding: options };
+  else if (typeof options !== 'object')
+    throw new TypeError('options must be a string or an object');
 
   Writable.call(this, options);
 
@@ -1805,6 +1817,10 @@ function WriteStream(path, options) {
     this.pos = this.start;
   }
 
+  if (options.encoding) {
+    this.setDefaultEncoding(options.encoding);
+  }
+
   if (typeof this.fd !== 'number')
     this.open();
 
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-read-stream-encoding.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-read-stream-encoding.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..68699136ea6366
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-read-stream-encoding.js
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+const stream = require('stream');
+const encoding = 'base64';
+
+const example = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'x.txt');
+const assertStream = new stream.Writable({
+  write: function(chunk, enc, next) {
+    const expected = new Buffer('xyz');
+    assert(chunk.equals(expected));
+  }
+});
+assertStream.setDefaultEncoding(encoding);
+fs.createReadStream(example, encoding).pipe(assertStream);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-read-stream-throw-type-error.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-read-stream-throw-type-error.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..c67bef6a0ef503
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-read-stream-throw-type-error.js
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+const example = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'x.txt');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createReadStream(example, 123); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createReadStream(example, 0); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createReadStream(example, true); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createReadStream(example, false); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-write-stream-encoding.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-write-stream-encoding.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..3d6dbeb37e94ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-write-stream-encoding.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+const stream = require('stream');
+const firstEncoding = 'base64';
+const secondEncoding = 'binary';
+
+const example = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'x.txt');
+const dummy = path.join(common.tmpDir, '/x.txt');
+const exampleReadStream = fs.createReadStream(example, firstEncoding);
+const dummyWriteStream = fs.createWriteStream(dummy, firstEncoding);
+exampleReadStream.pipe(dummyWriteStream).on('finish', function(){
+  const assertWriteStream = new stream.Writable({
+    write: function(chunk, enc, next) {
+      const expected = new Buffer('xyz\n');
+      assert(chunk.equals(expected));
+    }
+  });
+  assertWriteStream.setDefaultEncoding(secondEncoding);
+  fs.createReadStream(dummy, secondEncoding).pipe(assertWriteStream);
+});
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-write-stream-throw-type-error.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-write-stream-throw-type-error.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..450b7439ab7b10
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-write-stream-throw-type-error.js
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+const example = path.join(common.tmpDir, '/dummy');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createWriteStream(example, 123); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createWriteStream(example, 0); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createWriteStream(example, true); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');
+assert.throws(function() { 
+  fs.createWriteStream(example, false); 
+}, TypeError, 'options must be a string or an object');