diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
index 38424ad..1f9e4cc 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ COPY { <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable
     QUOTE '<replaceable class="parameter">quote_character</replaceable>'
     ESCAPE '<replaceable class="parameter">escape_character</replaceable>'
     FORCE_QUOTE { ( <replaceable class="parameter">column</replaceable> [, ...] ) | * }
-    FORCE_NOT_NULL ( <replaceable class="parameter">column</replaceable> [, ...] )
+    FORCE_NOT_NULL ( <replaceable class="parameter">column</replaceable> [, ...] ) |
+    ENCODING <replaceable class="parameter">encoding_name</replaceable>
 </synopsis>
  </refsynopsisdiv>
 
@@ -282,6 +283,18 @@ COPY { <replaceable class="parameter">table_name</replaceable> [ ( <replaceable
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
 
+   <varlistentry>
+    <term><literal>ENCODING</></term>
+    <listitem>
+     <para>
+      Specifies that the file is encoded in the <replaceable
+      class="parameter">encoding_name</replaceable>.  If this option is
+      omitted, the current client encoding is used. See the Notes below
+      for more details.
+     </para>
+    </listitem>
+   </varlistentry>
+
   </variablelist>
  </refsect1>
 
@@ -377,8 +390,9 @@ COPY <replaceable class="parameter">count</replaceable>
    </para>
 
    <para>
-    Input data is interpreted according to the current client encoding,
-    and output data is encoded in the current client encoding, even
+    Input data is interpreted according to <literal>ENCODING</literal>
+    option or the current client encoding, and output data is encoded
+    in <literal>ENCODING</literal> or the current client encoding, even
     if the data does not pass through the client but is read from or
     written to a file directly by the server.
    </para>
diff --git a/src/backend/commands/copy.c b/src/backend/commands/copy.c
index 841bf22..c571315 100644
--- a/src/backend/commands/copy.c
+++ b/src/backend/commands/copy.c
@@ -97,7 +97,9 @@ typedef struct CopyStateData
 	bool		fe_eof;			/* true if detected end of copy data */
 	EolType		eol_type;		/* EOL type of input */
 	int			client_encoding;	/* remote side's character encoding */
-	bool		need_transcoding;		/* client encoding diff from server? */
+	int			saved_encoding;		/* client encoding to be restored */
+	bool		encoding_option;	/* has encoding option? */
+	bool		need_transcoding;		/* encoding diff from server? */
 	bool		encoding_embeds_ascii;	/* ASCII can be non-first byte? */
 	uint64		processed;		/* # of tuples processed */
 
@@ -811,6 +813,22 @@ DoCopy(const CopyStmt *stmt, const char *queryString)
 						 errmsg("conflicting or redundant options")));
 			cstate->escape = defGetString(defel);
 		}
+		else if (strcmp(defel->defname, "encoding") == 0)
+		{
+			if (cstate->encoding_option)
+				ereport(ERROR,
+						(errcode(ERRCODE_SYNTAX_ERROR),
+						 errmsg("conflicting or redundant options")));
+			if (PG_VALID_ENCODING(pg_char_to_encoding(defGetString(defel))))
+					cstate->client_encoding =
+							pg_char_to_encoding(defGetString(defel));
+			else
+				ereport(ERROR,
+						(errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_PARAMETER_VALUE),
+						 errmsg("argument to option \"%s\" must be a valid encoding name",
+								defel->defname)));
+			cstate->encoding_option = true;
+		}
 		else if (strcmp(defel->defname, "force_quote") == 0)
 		{
 			if (force_quote || force_quote_all)
@@ -1169,11 +1187,25 @@ DoCopy(const CopyStmt *stmt, const char *queryString)
 	cstate->processed = 0;
 
 	/*
-	 * Set up encoding conversion info.  Even if the client and server
-	 * encodings are the same, we must apply pg_client_to_server() to validate
-	 * data in multibyte encodings.
+	 * Set up encoding conversion info.  If encoding option is specified,
+	 * use it instead of client_encoding of GUC.  In any cases, we use
+	 * pg_client_to_server/server_to_client() for performance reason.
+	 * Be careful to restore the previous encoding setting on changing
+	 * current client_encoding.
+	 */
+	if (cstate->encoding_option)
+	{
+		cstate->saved_encoding = pg_get_client_encoding();
+		SetClientEncoding(cstate->client_encoding, true);
+	}
+	else
+		cstate->client_encoding = pg_get_client_encoding();
+
+	/*
+	 * Even if the client and server encodings are the same,
+	 * we must apply pg_client_to_server() to validate data in
+	 * multibyte encodings.
 	 */
-	cstate->client_encoding = pg_get_client_encoding();
 	cstate->need_transcoding =
 		(cstate->client_encoding != GetDatabaseEncoding() ||
 		 pg_database_encoding_max_length() > 1);
@@ -1188,6 +1220,10 @@ DoCopy(const CopyStmt *stmt, const char *queryString)
 	else
 		DoCopyTo(cstate);		/* copy from database to file */
 
+	/* restore previous client_encoding if client_encoding has changed */
+	if (cstate->encoding_option)
+		SetClientEncoding(cstate->saved_encoding, true);
+
 	/*
 	 * Close the relation or query.  If reading, we can release the
 	 * AccessShareLock we got; if writing, we should hold the lock until end
diff --git a/src/backend/parser/gram.y b/src/backend/parser/gram.y
index 660947c..3318dd0 100644
--- a/src/backend/parser/gram.y
+++ b/src/backend/parser/gram.y
@@ -2216,6 +2216,10 @@ copy_opt_item:
 				{
 					$$ = makeDefElem("force_not_null", (Node *)$4);
 				}
+			| ENCODING ColId_or_Sconst
+				{
+					$$ = makeDefElem("encoding", (Node *)makeString($2));
+				}
 		;
 
 /* The following exist for backward compatibility with very old versions */
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/copy2.out b/src/test/regress/expected/copy2.out
index 15cbe02..88d7d16 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/copy2.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/copy2.out
@@ -46,10 +46,10 @@ CONTEXT:  COPY x, line 1: "2001	231	\N	\N"
 COPY x from stdin;
 ERROR:  extra data after last expected column
 CONTEXT:  COPY x, line 1: "2002	232	40	50	60	70	80"
--- various COPY options: delimiters, oids, NULL string
+-- various COPY options: delimiters, oids, NULL string, encoding
 COPY x (b, c, d, e) from stdin with oids delimiter ',' null 'x';
 COPY x from stdin WITH DELIMITER AS ';' NULL AS '';
-COPY x from stdin WITH DELIMITER AS ':' NULL AS E'\\X';
+COPY x from stdin WITH DELIMITER AS ':' NULL AS E'\\X' ENCODING sql_ascii;
 -- check results of copy in
 SELECT * FROM x;
    a   | b  |     c      |   d    |          e           
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV QUOTE '''' DELIMITER '|';
 Jackson, Sam|\h
 It is "perfect".|	
 ''|
-COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV FORCE QUOTE col2 ESCAPE E'\\';
+COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV FORCE QUOTE col2 ESCAPE E'\\' ENCODING sql_ascii;
 "Jackson, Sam","\\h"
 "It is \"perfect\".","	"
 "",
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/copy2.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/copy2.sql
index c2e8b03..d2683d1 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/copy2.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/copy2.sql
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ COPY x from stdin;
 2002	232	40	50	60	70	80
 \.
 
--- various COPY options: delimiters, oids, NULL string
+-- various COPY options: delimiters, oids, NULL string, encoding
 COPY x (b, c, d, e) from stdin with oids delimiter ',' null 'x';
 500000,x,45,80,90
 500001,x,\x,\\x,\\\x
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ COPY x from stdin WITH DELIMITER AS ';' NULL AS '';
 3000;;c;;
 \.
 
-COPY x from stdin WITH DELIMITER AS ':' NULL AS E'\\X';
+COPY x from stdin WITH DELIMITER AS ':' NULL AS E'\\X' ENCODING sql_ascii;
 4000:\X:C:\X:\X
 4001:1:empty::
 4002:2:null:\X:\X
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ INSERT INTO y VALUES ('', NULL);
 
 COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV;
 COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV QUOTE '''' DELIMITER '|';
-COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV FORCE QUOTE col2 ESCAPE E'\\';
+COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV FORCE QUOTE col2 ESCAPE E'\\' ENCODING sql_ascii;
 COPY y TO stdout WITH CSV FORCE QUOTE *;
 
 -- Repeat above tests with new 9.0 option syntax
