diff --git a/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py b/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py
index 7c5958457886..cb69852af1ce 100644
--- a/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py
+++ b/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py
@@ -89,6 +89,11 @@
     dict_values_op,
 )
 from mypyc.primitives.list_ops import new_list_set_item_op
+from mypyc.primitives.str_ops import (
+    str_encode_ascii_strict,
+    str_encode_latin1_strict,
+    str_encode_utf8_strict,
+)
 from mypyc.primitives.tuple_ops import new_tuple_set_item_op
 
 # Specializers are attempted before compiling the arguments to the
@@ -682,6 +687,58 @@ def translate_fstring(builder: IRBuilder, expr: CallExpr, callee: RefExpr) -> Va
     return None
 
 
+@specialize_function("encode", str_rprimitive)
+def str_encode_fast_path(builder: IRBuilder, expr: CallExpr, callee: RefExpr) -> Value | None:
+    """Specialize common cases of str.encode for most used encodings and strict errors."""
+
+    if not isinstance(callee, MemberExpr):
+        return None
+
+    # We can only specialize if we have string literals as args
+    if len(expr.arg_kinds) > 0 and not isinstance(expr.args[0], StrExpr):
+        return None
+    if len(expr.arg_kinds) > 1 and not isinstance(expr.args[1], StrExpr):
+        return None
+
+    encoding = "utf8"
+    errors = "strict"
+    if len(expr.arg_kinds) > 0 and isinstance(expr.args[0], StrExpr):
+        if expr.arg_kinds[0] == ARG_NAMED:
+            if expr.arg_names[0] == "encoding":
+                encoding = expr.args[0].value
+            elif expr.arg_names[0] == "errors":
+                errors = expr.args[0].value
+        elif expr.arg_kinds[0] == ARG_POS:
+            encoding = expr.args[0].value
+        else:
+            return None
+    if len(expr.arg_kinds) > 1 and isinstance(expr.args[1], StrExpr):
+        if expr.arg_kinds[1] == ARG_NAMED:
+            if expr.arg_names[1] == "encoding":
+                encoding = expr.args[1].value
+            elif expr.arg_names[1] == "errors":
+                errors = expr.args[1].value
+        elif expr.arg_kinds[1] == ARG_POS:
+            errors = expr.args[1].value
+        else:
+            return None
+
+    if errors != "strict":
+        # We can only specialize strict errors
+        return None
+
+    encoding = encoding.lower().replace("-", "").replace("_", "")  # normalize
+    # Specialized encodings and their accepted aliases
+    if encoding in ["u8", "utf", "utf8", "cp65001"]:
+        return builder.call_c(str_encode_utf8_strict, [builder.accept(callee.expr)], expr.line)
+    elif encoding in ["646", "ascii", "usascii"]:
+        return builder.call_c(str_encode_ascii_strict, [builder.accept(callee.expr)], expr.line)
+    elif encoding in ["iso88591", "8859", "cp819", "latin", "latin1", "l1"]:
+        return builder.call_c(str_encode_latin1_strict, [builder.accept(callee.expr)], expr.line)
+
+    return None
+
+
 @specialize_function("mypy_extensions.i64")
 def translate_i64(builder: IRBuilder, expr: CallExpr, callee: RefExpr) -> Value | None:
     if len(expr.args) != 1 or expr.arg_kinds[0] != ARG_POS:
diff --git a/mypyc/primitives/str_ops.py b/mypyc/primitives/str_ops.py
index 2ff1fbdb4b3e..3a5495e21c1b 100644
--- a/mypyc/primitives/str_ops.py
+++ b/mypyc/primitives/str_ops.py
@@ -219,6 +219,30 @@
     extra_int_constants=[(0, pointer_rprimitive)],
 )
 
+# str.encode(encoding) - utf8 strict specialization
+str_encode_utf8_strict = custom_op(
+    arg_types=[str_rprimitive],
+    return_type=bytes_rprimitive,
+    c_function_name="PyUnicode_AsUTF8String",
+    error_kind=ERR_MAGIC,
+)
+
+# str.encode(encoding) - ascii strict specialization
+str_encode_ascii_strict = custom_op(
+    arg_types=[str_rprimitive],
+    return_type=bytes_rprimitive,
+    c_function_name="PyUnicode_AsASCIIString",
+    error_kind=ERR_MAGIC,
+)
+
+# str.encode(encoding) - latin1 strict specialization
+str_encode_latin1_strict = custom_op(
+    arg_types=[str_rprimitive],
+    return_type=bytes_rprimitive,
+    c_function_name="PyUnicode_AsLatin1String",
+    error_kind=ERR_MAGIC,
+)
+
 # str.encode(encoding, errors)
 method_op(
     name="encode",
diff --git a/mypyc/test-data/fixtures/ir.py b/mypyc/test-data/fixtures/ir.py
index ac95ffe2c047..be66307286fc 100644
--- a/mypyc/test-data/fixtures/ir.py
+++ b/mypyc/test-data/fixtures/ir.py
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ def upper(self) -> str: ...
     def startswith(self, x: str, start: int=..., end: int=...) -> bool: ...
     def endswith(self, x: str, start: int=..., end: int=...) -> bool: ...
     def replace(self, old: str, new: str, maxcount: int=...) -> str: ...
-    def encode(self, x: str=..., y: str=...) -> bytes: ...
+    def encode(self, encoding: str=..., errors: str=...) -> bytes: ...
 
 class float:
     def __init__(self, x: object) -> None: pass
diff --git a/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test b/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test
index 771dcc4c0e68..61e5a42cf3ef 100644
--- a/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test
+++ b/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test
@@ -293,20 +293,93 @@ L0:
 def f(s: str) -> None:
     s.encode()
     s.encode('utf-8')
+    s.encode('utf8', 'strict')
+    s.encode('latin1', errors='strict')
+    s.encode(encoding='ascii')
+    s.encode(errors='strict', encoding='latin-1')
+    s.encode('utf-8', 'backslashreplace')
     s.encode('ascii', 'backslashreplace')
+    encoding = 'utf8'
+    s.encode(encoding)
+    errors = 'strict'
+    s.encode('utf8', errors)
+    s.encode('utf8', errors=errors)
+    s.encode(errors=errors)
+    s.encode(encoding=encoding, errors=errors)
+    s.encode('latin2')
+
 [out]
 def f(s):
     s :: str
-    r0 :: bytes
-    r1 :: str
-    r2 :: bytes
-    r3, r4 :: str
-    r5 :: bytes
+    r0, r1, r2, r3, r4, r5 :: bytes
+    r6, r7 :: str
+    r8 :: bytes
+    r9, r10 :: str
+    r11 :: bytes
+    r12, encoding :: str
+    r13 :: bytes
+    r14, errors, r15 :: str
+    r16 :: bytes
+    r17, r18 :: str
+    r19 :: object
+    r20 :: str
+    r21 :: tuple
+    r22 :: dict
+    r23 :: object
+    r24 :: str
+    r25 :: object
+    r26 :: str
+    r27 :: tuple
+    r28 :: dict
+    r29 :: object
+    r30 :: str
+    r31 :: object
+    r32, r33 :: str
+    r34 :: tuple
+    r35 :: dict
+    r36 :: object
+    r37 :: str
+    r38 :: bytes
 L0:
-    r0 = CPy_Encode(s, 0, 0)
-    r1 = 'utf-8'
-    r2 = CPy_Encode(s, r1, 0)
-    r3 = 'ascii'
-    r4 = 'backslashreplace'
-    r5 = CPy_Encode(s, r3, r4)
+    r0 = PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(s)
+    r1 = PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(s)
+    r2 = PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(s)
+    r3 = PyUnicode_AsLatin1String(s)
+    r4 = PyUnicode_AsASCIIString(s)
+    r5 = PyUnicode_AsLatin1String(s)
+    r6 = 'utf-8'
+    r7 = 'backslashreplace'
+    r8 = CPy_Encode(s, r6, r7)
+    r9 = 'ascii'
+    r10 = 'backslashreplace'
+    r11 = CPy_Encode(s, r9, r10)
+    r12 = 'utf8'
+    encoding = r12
+    r13 = CPy_Encode(s, encoding, 0)
+    r14 = 'strict'
+    errors = r14
+    r15 = 'utf8'
+    r16 = CPy_Encode(s, r15, errors)
+    r17 = 'utf8'
+    r18 = 'encode'
+    r19 = CPyObject_GetAttr(s, r18)
+    r20 = 'errors'
+    r21 = PyTuple_Pack(1, r17)
+    r22 = CPyDict_Build(1, r20, errors)
+    r23 = PyObject_Call(r19, r21, r22)
+    r24 = 'encode'
+    r25 = CPyObject_GetAttr(s, r24)
+    r26 = 'errors'
+    r27 = PyTuple_Pack(0)
+    r28 = CPyDict_Build(1, r26, errors)
+    r29 = PyObject_Call(r25, r27, r28)
+    r30 = 'encode'
+    r31 = CPyObject_GetAttr(s, r30)
+    r32 = 'encoding'
+    r33 = 'errors'
+    r34 = PyTuple_Pack(0)
+    r35 = CPyDict_Build(2, r32, encoding, r33, errors)
+    r36 = PyObject_Call(r31, r34, r35)
+    r37 = 'latin2'
+    r38 = CPy_Encode(s, r37, 0)
     return 1