diff --git a/src/strings.c b/src/strings.c
index 5de3162..9e39c45 100644
--- a/src/strings.c
+++ b/src/strings.c
@@ -1289,7 +1289,7 @@
     blob_T	*blob;
     int		blen;
     long	idx;
-    int		utf8_inuse = FALSE;
+    int		validate_utf8 = FALSE;
 
     if (check_for_blob_arg(argvars, 0) == FAIL
 	    || check_for_opt_dict_arg(argvars, 1) == FAIL)
@@ -1316,7 +1316,14 @@
     }
 
     if (STRCMP(p_enc, "utf-8") == 0 || STRCMP(p_enc, "utf8") == 0)
-	utf8_inuse = TRUE;
+	validate_utf8 = TRUE;
+
+    if (from_encoding != NULL && STRCMP(from_encoding, "none") == 0)
+    {
+	validate_utf8 = FALSE;
+	vim_free(from_encoding);
+	from_encoding = NULL;
+    }
 
     idx = 0;
     while (idx < blen)
@@ -1340,7 +1347,7 @@
 	    }
 	}
 
-	if (utf8_inuse)
+	if (validate_utf8)
 	{
 	    if (!utf_valid_string(converted_str, NULL))
 	    {
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_functions.vim b/src/testdir/test_functions.vim
index 8ecc3a6..6928cda 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_functions.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_functions.vim
@@ -4446,6 +4446,9 @@
     call assert_equal(['a'], blob2str(0z61, test_null_dict()))
     call assert_equal(['a'], blob2str(0z61, {'encoding': test_null_string()}))
 
+    call assert_equal(["\x80"], blob2str(0z80, {'encoding': 'none'}))
+    call assert_equal(['a', "\x80"], blob2str(0z610A80, {'encoding': 'none'}))
+
     #" Invalid encoding
     call assert_fails("call blob2str(0z80)", "E1515: Unable to convert from 'utf-8' encoding")
     call assert_fails("call blob2str(0z610A80)", "E1515: Unable to convert from 'utf-8' encoding")
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 07bede5..5652fc3 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -705,6 +705,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    1144,
+/**/
     1143,
 /**/
     1142,