diff --git a/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb b/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb
index c285136604..b62025c60f 100644
--- a/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb
+++ b/lib/fluent/plugin/in_exec.rb
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ class ExecInput < Fluent::Plugin::Input
     config_param :run_interval, :time, default: nil
     desc 'The default block size to read if parser requires partial read.'
     config_param :read_block_size, :size, default: 10240 # 10k
+    desc 'The encoding to receive the result of the command, especially for non-ascii characters.'
+    config_param :encoding, :string, default: nil
 
     attr_reader :parser
 
@@ -63,9 +65,16 @@ def configure(conf)
       if !@tag && (!@extract_config || !@extract_config.tag_key)
         raise Fluent::ConfigError, "'tag' or 'tag_key' option is required on exec input"
       end
+      validate_encoding(@encoding) if @encoding
       @parser = parser_create
     end
 
+    def validate_encoding(encoding)
+      Encoding.find(encoding)
+    rescue ArgumentError => e
+      raise Fluent::ConfigError, e.message
+    end
+
     def multi_workers_ready?
       true
     end
@@ -73,10 +82,13 @@ def multi_workers_ready?
     def start
       super
 
+      options = { mode: [@connect_mode] }
+      options[:external_encoding] = @encoding if @encoding
+
       if @run_interval
-        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, interval: @run_interval, mode: [@connect_mode], &method(:run))
+        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, interval: @run_interval, **options, &method(:run))
       else
-        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, immediate: true, mode: [@connect_mode], &method(:run))
+        child_process_execute(:exec_input, @command, immediate: true, **options, &method(:run))
       end
     end
 
diff --git a/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb b/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb
index cbce44313b..f7c9f6d705 100644
--- a/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb
+++ b/test/plugin/test_in_exec.rb
@@ -218,6 +218,43 @@ def create_driver(conf)
     end
   end
 
+  sub_test_case 'encoding' do
+    data(immediate: "")
+    data(run_interval: "run_interval 1")
+    test 'can handle non-ascii characters' do |additional_setting|
+      content = 'ひらがな漢字'
+
+      d = create_driver %[
+        command ruby -e "puts '#{content}'"
+        tag test
+        encoding utf-8
+        <parse>
+          @type none
+        </parse>
+        #{additional_setting}
+      ]
+
+      d.run(expect_records: 1, timeout: 10)
+
+      assert_equal 1, d.events.length
+      tag, time, record = d.events.first
+      assert_equal({"message" => content}, record)
+    end
+
+    test 'raise ConfigError for invalid encoding' do
+      assert_raise Fluent::ConfigError do
+        d = create_driver %[
+          command ruby -e "puts foo"
+          tag test
+          encoding invalid-encode
+          <parse>
+            @type none
+          </parse>
+        ]
+      end
+    end
+  end
+
   data(
     'default' => [TSV_CONFIG,     "tag1", event_time("2011-01-02 13:14:15"), {"k1"=>"ok"}],
     'json'    => [JSON_CONFIG,    "tag1", event_time("2011-01-02 13:14:15"), {"k1"=>"ok"}],