diff --git a/.github/actions/go-test-setup/action.yml b/.github/actions/go-test-setup/action.yml
index cc5b02c95..2b9d64e30 100644
--- a/.github/actions/go-test-setup/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/go-test-setup/action.yml
@@ -12,4 +12,4 @@ runs:
       run: (ipfs init)
     - name: Run go-ipfs
       shell: bash
-      run: (ipfs daemon --enable-pubsub-experiment &)
\ No newline at end of file
+      run: (ipfs daemon --enable-pubsub-experiment &)
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e0d5c3f1e..8c3b6e0c8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # go-ipfs-api
 
-[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/made%20by-Protocol%20Labs-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](http://ipn.io)
-[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/project-IPFS-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](http://ipfs.io/)
-[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/freenode-%23ipfs-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=%23ipfs)
+[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/made%20by-Protocol%20Labs-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](https://protocol.ai)
+[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/project-IPFS-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](https://ipfs.io/)
+[![](https://img.shields.io/badge/matrix-%23ipfs-blue.svg?style=flat-square)](https://app.element.io/#/room/#ipfs:matrix.org)
 [![standard-readme compliant](https://img.shields.io/badge/standard--readme-OK-green.svg?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/RichardLitt/standard-readme)
 [![GoDoc](https://godoc.org/github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-api?status.svg)](https://godoc.org/github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-api)
 [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/ipfs/go-ipfs-api.svg)](https://travis-ci.org/ipfs/go-ipfs-api) 
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 48efd9859..9c5e5a3b6 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -4,10 +4,11 @@ module github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-api
 
 require (
 	github.com/cheekybits/is v0.0.0-20150225183255-68e9c0620927
-	github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files v0.0.8
+	github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files v0.0.9
 	github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-util v0.0.2
 	github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core v0.6.1
 	github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir v1.1.0
 	github.com/multiformats/go-multiaddr v0.3.0
+	github.com/multiformats/go-multibase v0.0.3
 	github.com/whyrusleeping/tar-utils v0.0.0-20180509141711-8c6c8ba81d5c
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 6ea9b8c25..fe3c66de5 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@ github.com/google/go-cmp v0.3.0/go.mod h1:8QqcDgzrUqlUb/G2PQTWiueGozuR1884gddMyw
 github.com/hpcloud/tail v1.0.0/go.mod h1:ab1qPbhIpdTxEkNHXyeSf5vhxWSCs/tWer42PpOxQnU=
 github.com/ipfs/go-cid v0.0.7 h1:ysQJVJA3fNDF1qigJbsSQOdjhVLsOEoPdh0+R97k3jY=
 github.com/ipfs/go-cid v0.0.7/go.mod h1:6Ux9z5e+HpkQdckYoX1PG/6xqKspzlEIR5SDmgqgC/I=
-github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files v0.0.8 h1:8o0oFJkJ8UkO/ABl8T6ac6tKF3+NIpj67aAB6ZpusRg=
-github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files v0.0.8/go.mod h1:wiN/jSG8FKyk7N0WyctKSvq3ljIa2NNTiZB55kpTdOs=
+github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files v0.0.9 h1:OFyOfmuVDu9c5YtjSDORmwXzE6fmZikzZpzsnNkgFEg=
+github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-files v0.0.9/go.mod h1:aFv2uQ/qxWpL/6lidWvnSQmaVqCrf0TBGoUr+C1Fo84=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-util v0.0.2 h1:59Sswnk1MFaiq+VcaknX7aYEyGyGDAA73ilhEK2POp8=
 github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-util v0.0.2/go.mod h1:CbPtkWJzjLdEcezDns2XYaehFVNXG9zrdrtMecczcsQ=
 github.com/jbenet/go-cienv v0.1.0/go.mod h1:TqNnHUmJgXau0nCzC7kXWeotg3J9W34CUv5Djy1+FlA=
@@ -89,8 +89,9 @@ github.com/spacemonkeygo/spacelog v0.0.0-20180420211403-2296661a0572/go.mod h1:w
 github.com/spaolacci/murmur3 v1.1.0 h1:7c1g84S4BPRrfL5Xrdp6fOJ206sU9y293DDHaoy0bLI=
 github.com/spaolacci/murmur3 v1.1.0/go.mod h1:JwIasOWyU6f++ZhiEuf87xNszmSA2myDM2Kzu9HwQUA=
 github.com/stretchr/objx v0.1.0/go.mod h1:HFkY916IF+rwdDfMAkV7OtwuqBVzrE8GR6GFx+wExME=
-github.com/stretchr/testify v1.4.0 h1:2E4SXV/wtOkTonXsotYi4li6zVWxYlZuYNCXe9XRJyk=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.4.0/go.mod h1:j7eGeouHqKxXV5pUuKE4zz7dFj8WfuZ+81PSLYec5m4=
+github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0 h1:nwc3DEeHmmLAfoZucVR881uASk0Mfjw8xYJ99tb5CcY=
+github.com/stretchr/testify v1.7.0/go.mod h1:6Fq8oRcR53rry900zMqJjRRixrwX3KX962/h/Wwjteg=
 github.com/whyrusleeping/tar-utils v0.0.0-20180509141711-8c6c8ba81d5c h1:GGsyl0dZ2jJgVT+VvWBf/cNijrHRhkrTjkmp5wg7li0=
 github.com/whyrusleeping/tar-utils v0.0.0-20180509141711-8c6c8ba81d5c/go.mod h1:xxcJeBb7SIUl/Wzkz1eVKJE/CB34YNrqX2TQI6jY9zs=
 go.opencensus.io v0.22.4 h1:LYy1Hy3MJdrCdMwwzxA/dRok4ejH+RwNGbuoD9fCjto=
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ gopkg.in/check.v1 v0.0.0-20161208181325-20d25e280405/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8
 gopkg.in/fsnotify.v1 v1.4.7/go.mod h1:Tz8NjZHkW78fSQdbUxIjBTcgA1z1m8ZHf0WmKUhAMys=
 gopkg.in/tomb.v1 v1.0.0-20141024135613-dd632973f1e7/go.mod h1:dt/ZhP58zS4L8KSrWDmTeBkI65Dw0HsyUHuEVlX15mw=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.1/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
-gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2 h1:ZCJp+EgiOT7lHqUV2J862kp8Qj64Jo6az82+3Td9dZw=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v2 v2.2.2/go.mod h1:hI93XBmqTisBFMUTm0b8Fm+jr3Dg1NNxqwp+5A1VGuI=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20200313102051-9f266ea9e77c h1:dUUwHk2QECo/6vqA44rthZ8ie2QXMNeKRTHCNY2nXvo=
+gopkg.in/yaml.v3 v3.0.0-20200313102051-9f266ea9e77c/go.mod h1:K4uyk7z7BCEPqu6E+C64Yfv1cQ7kz7rIZviUmN+EgEM=
 honnef.co/go/tools v0.0.0-20190102054323-c2f93a96b099/go.mod h1:rf3lG4BRIbNafJWhAfAdb/ePZxsR/4RtNHQocxwk9r4=
diff --git a/pubsub.go b/pubsub.go
index c27d35852..98345a853 100644
--- a/pubsub.go
+++ b/pubsub.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"io"
 
 	"github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/peer"
+	mbase "github.com/multiformats/go-multibase"
 )
 
 // Message is a pubsub message.
@@ -31,9 +32,9 @@ func newPubSubSubscription(resp io.ReadCloser) *PubSubSubscription {
 // Next waits for the next record and returns that.
 func (s *PubSubSubscription) Next() (*Message, error) {
 	var r struct {
-		From     []byte   `json:"from,omitempty"`
-		Data     []byte   `json:"data,omitempty"`
-		Seqno    []byte   `json:"seqno,omitempty"`
+		From     string   `json:"from,omitempty"`
+		Data     string   `json:"data,omitempty"`
+		Seqno    string   `json:"seqno,omitempty"`
 		TopicIDs []string `json:"topicIDs,omitempty"`
 	}
 
@@ -42,15 +43,33 @@ func (s *PubSubSubscription) Next() (*Message, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	from, err := peer.IDFromBytes(r.From)
+	// fields are wrapped in multibase when sent over HTTP RPC
+	// and need to be decoded (https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/pull/8183)
+	from, err := peer.Decode(r.From)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	_, data, err := mbase.Decode(r.Data)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	_, seqno, err := mbase.Decode(r.Seqno)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	topics := make([]string, len(r.TopicIDs))
+	for _, mbtopic := range r.TopicIDs {
+		_, topic, err := mbase.Decode(mbtopic)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		topics = append(topics, string(topic))
+	}
 	return &Message{
 		From:     from,
-		Data:     r.Data,
-		Seqno:    r.Seqno,
-		TopicIDs: r.TopicIDs,
+		Data:     data,
+		Seqno:    seqno,
+		TopicIDs: topics,
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/shell.go b/shell.go
index 4d696d86e..78bbcc5dd 100644
--- a/shell.go
+++ b/shell.go
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import (
 	homedir "github.com/mitchellh/go-homedir"
 	ma "github.com/multiformats/go-multiaddr"
 	manet "github.com/multiformats/go-multiaddr/net"
+	mbase "github.com/multiformats/go-multibase"
 	tar "github.com/whyrusleeping/tar-utils"
 
 	p2pmetrics "github.com/libp2p/go-libp2p-core/metrics"
@@ -516,7 +517,8 @@ func (s *Shell) ObjectPut(obj *IpfsObject) (string, error) {
 
 func (s *Shell) PubSubSubscribe(topic string) (*PubSubSubscription, error) {
 	// connect
-	resp, err := s.Request("pubsub/sub", topic).Send(context.Background())
+	encoder, _ := mbase.EncoderByName("base64url")
+	resp, err := s.Request("pubsub/sub", encoder.Encode([]byte(topic))).Send(context.Background())
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -528,7 +530,14 @@ func (s *Shell) PubSubSubscribe(topic string) (*PubSubSubscription, error) {
 }
 
 func (s *Shell) PubSubPublish(topic, data string) (err error) {
-	resp, err := s.Request("pubsub/pub", topic, data).Send(context.Background())
+
+	fr := files.NewReaderFile(bytes.NewReader([]byte(data)))
+	slf := files.NewSliceDirectory([]files.DirEntry{files.FileEntry("", fr)})
+	fileReader := files.NewMultiFileReader(slf, true)
+
+	encoder, _ := mbase.EncoderByName("base64url")
+	resp, err := s.Request("pubsub/pub", encoder.Encode([]byte(topic))).
+		Body(fileReader).Send(context.Background())
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/shell_test.go b/shell_test.go
index ba0d869de..f2e2ece9f 100644
--- a/shell_test.go
+++ b/shell_test.go
@@ -369,7 +369,9 @@ func TestPubSub(t *testing.T) {
 	s := NewShell(shellUrl)
 
 	var (
-		topic = "test"
+		topic    = "test\n topic\r\t with unsafe bytes"
+		payload1 = "Hello\r\nWorld\t!"
+		payload2 = "Hallo\r\nWelt\t!!11oneonę"
 
 		sub *PubSubSubscription
 		err error
@@ -384,7 +386,7 @@ func TestPubSub(t *testing.T) {
 	time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
 
 	t.Log("publishing...")
-	is.Nil(s.PubSubPublish(topic, "Hello World!"))
+	is.Nil(s.PubSubPublish(topic, payload1))
 	t.Log("pub: done")
 
 	t.Log("next()...")
@@ -393,23 +395,23 @@ func TestPubSub(t *testing.T) {
 
 	is.Nil(err)
 	is.NotNil(r)
-	is.Equal(r.Data, "Hello World!")
+	is.Equal(r.Data, payload1)
 
 	sub2, err := s.PubSubSubscribe(topic)
 	is.Nil(err)
 	is.NotNil(sub2)
 
-	is.Nil(s.PubSubPublish(topic, "Hallo Welt!"))
+	is.Nil(s.PubSubPublish(topic, payload2))
 
 	r, err = sub2.Next()
 	is.Nil(err)
 	is.NotNil(r)
-	is.Equal(r.Data, "Hallo Welt!")
+	is.Equal(r.Data, payload2)
 
 	r, err = sub.Next()
 	is.NotNil(r)
 	is.Nil(err)
-	is.Equal(r.Data, "Hallo Welt!")
+	is.Equal(r.Data, payload2)
 
 	is.Nil(sub.Cancel())
 }