diff --git a/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py b/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py
index f652449f5289..be84e9579e2f 100644
--- a/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py
+++ b/mypyc/irbuild/specialize.py
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@
     RTuple,
     RType,
     bool_rprimitive,
+    bytes_rprimitive,
     c_int_rprimitive,
     dict_rprimitive,
     int16_rprimitive,
@@ -83,6 +84,11 @@
     join_formatted_strings,
     tokenizer_format_call,
 )
+from mypyc.primitives.bytes_ops import (
+    bytes_decode_ascii_strict,
+    bytes_decode_latin1_strict,
+    bytes_decode_utf8_strict,
+)
 from mypyc.primitives.dict_ops import (
     dict_items_op,
     dict_keys_op,
@@ -740,6 +746,47 @@ def str_encode_fast_path(builder: IRBuilder, expr: CallExpr, callee: RefExpr) ->
     return None
 
 
+@specialize_function("decode", bytes_rprimitive)
+def bytes_decode_fast_path(builder: IRBuilder, expr: CallExpr, callee: RefExpr) -> Value | None:
+    if not isinstance(callee, MemberExpr):
+        return None
+
+    encoding = "utf8"
+
+    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_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
+        else:
+            return None
+
+    normalized = encoding.lower().replace("-", "").replace("_", "")
+
+    if normalized in ("utf8", "utf", "u8", "cp65001"):
+        return builder.primitive_op(
+            bytes_decode_utf8_strict, [builder.accept(callee.expr)], expr.line
+        )
+    elif normalized in ("ascii", "usascii", "646"):
+        return builder.primitive_op(
+            bytes_decode_ascii_strict, [builder.accept(callee.expr)], expr.line
+        )
+    elif normalized in ("latin1", "latin", "iso88591", "cp819", "8859", "l1"):
+        return builder.primitive_op(
+            bytes_decode_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/lib-rt/CPy.h b/mypyc/lib-rt/CPy.h
index 1f0cf4dd63d6..6e7c0381ddfd 100644
--- a/mypyc/lib-rt/CPy.h
+++ b/mypyc/lib-rt/CPy.h
@@ -764,6 +764,9 @@ CPyTagged CPyBytes_GetItem(PyObject *o, CPyTagged index);
 PyObject *CPyBytes_Concat(PyObject *a, PyObject *b);
 PyObject *CPyBytes_Join(PyObject *sep, PyObject *iter);
 CPyTagged CPyBytes_Ord(PyObject *obj);
+PyObject *CPy_DecodeUtf8(PyObject *bytes_obj);
+PyObject *CPy_DecodeLatin1(PyObject *bytes_obj);
+PyObject *CPy_DecodeAscii(PyObject *bytes_obj);
 
 
 int CPyBytes_Compare(PyObject *left, PyObject *right);
diff --git a/mypyc/lib-rt/bytes_ops.c b/mypyc/lib-rt/bytes_ops.c
index 6ff34b021a9a..d0ae86a581f8 100644
--- a/mypyc/lib-rt/bytes_ops.c
+++ b/mypyc/lib-rt/bytes_ops.c
@@ -162,3 +162,42 @@ CPyTagged CPyBytes_Ord(PyObject *obj) {
     PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "ord() expects a character");
     return CPY_INT_TAG;
 }
+
+
+PyObject *CPy_DecodeUtf8(PyObject *bytes_obj) {
+    if (!PyBytes_Check(bytes_obj)) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "expected bytes object");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    char *data = PyBytes_AS_STRING(bytes_obj);
+    Py_ssize_t size = PyBytes_GET_SIZE(bytes_obj);
+
+    return PyUnicode_DecodeUTF8(data, size, NULL);
+}
+
+
+PyObject *CPy_DecodeLatin1(PyObject *bytes_obj) {
+    if (!PyBytes_Check(bytes_obj)) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "expected bytes object");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    char *data = PyBytes_AS_STRING(bytes_obj);
+    Py_ssize_t size = PyBytes_GET_SIZE(bytes_obj);
+
+    return PyUnicode_DecodeLatin1(data, size, NULL);
+}
+
+
+PyObject *CPy_DecodeAscii(PyObject *bytes_obj) {
+    if (!PyBytes_Check(bytes_obj)) {
+        PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, "expected bytes object");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+
+    char *data = PyBytes_AS_STRING(bytes_obj);
+    Py_ssize_t size = PyBytes_GET_SIZE(bytes_obj);
+
+    return PyUnicode_DecodeASCII(data, size, NULL);
+}
diff --git a/mypyc/primitives/bytes_ops.py b/mypyc/primitives/bytes_ops.py
index 1afd196cff84..219ce0c71ba7 100644
--- a/mypyc/primitives/bytes_ops.py
+++ b/mypyc/primitives/bytes_ops.py
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
     ERR_NEG_INT,
     binary_op,
     custom_op,
+    custom_primitive_op,
     function_op,
     load_address_op,
     method_op,
@@ -107,3 +108,27 @@
     c_function_name="CPyBytes_Ord",
     error_kind=ERR_MAGIC,
 )
+
+bytes_decode_utf8_strict = custom_primitive_op(
+    name="decode",
+    arg_types=[bytes_rprimitive],
+    return_type=str_rprimitive,
+    c_function_name="CPy_DecodeUtf8",
+    error_kind=ERR_MAGIC,
+)
+
+bytes_decode_latin1_strict = custom_primitive_op(
+    name="decode_latin1",
+    arg_types=[bytes_rprimitive],
+    return_type=str_rprimitive,
+    c_function_name="CPy_DecodeLatin1",
+    error_kind=ERR_MAGIC,
+)
+
+bytes_decode_ascii_strict = custom_primitive_op(
+    name="decode_ascii",
+    arg_types=[bytes_rprimitive],
+    return_type=str_rprimitive,
+    c_function_name="CPy_DecodeAscii",
+    error_kind=ERR_MAGIC,
+)
diff --git a/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-bytes.test b/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-bytes.test
index 476c5ac59f48..90b0aaae5c5c 100644
--- a/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-bytes.test
+++ b/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-bytes.test
@@ -185,3 +185,59 @@ L0:
     r10 = CPyBytes_Build(2, var, r9)
     b4 = r10
     return 1
+
+[case testDecode]
+def f(b: bytes) -> None:
+    b.decode()
+    b.decode('utf8')
+    b.decode('utf-8', 'strict')
+    b.decode('latin-1')
+    b.decode('latin1', 'strict')
+    b.decode('ascii')
+    b.decode('ascii', 'strict')
+    b.decode('utf-8', 'ignore')
+    b.decode('ascii', 'replace')
+    b.decode('latin1', 'ignore')
+    b'test_utf8'.decode('utf8')
+    b'test_latin1'.decode('latin1')
+    b'test_ascii'.decode('ascii')
+[out]
+def f(b):
+    b :: bytes
+    r0, r1, r2, r3, r4, r5, r6, r7, r8, r9, r10, r11, r12, r13, r14, r15, r16, r17, r18, r19, r20, r21 :: str
+    r22 :: bytes
+    r23 :: str
+    r24 :: bytes
+    r25 :: str
+    r26 :: bytes
+    r27 :: str
+L0:
+    r0 = CPy_DecodeUtf8(b)
+    r1 = CPy_DecodeUtf8(b)
+    r2 = 'utf-8'
+    r3 = 'strict'
+    r4 = CPy_Decode(b, r2, r3)
+    r5 = CPy_DecodeLatin1(b)
+    r6 = 'latin1'
+    r7 = 'strict'
+    r8 = CPy_Decode(b, r6, r7)
+    r9 = CPy_DecodeAscii(b)
+    r10 = 'ascii'
+    r11 = 'strict'
+    r12 = CPy_Decode(b, r10, r11)
+    r13 = 'utf-8'
+    r14 = 'ignore'
+    r15 = CPy_Decode(b, r13, r14)
+    r16 = 'ascii'
+    r17 = 'replace'
+    r18 = CPy_Decode(b, r16, r17)
+    r19 = 'latin1'
+    r20 = 'ignore'
+    r21 = CPy_Decode(b, r19, r20)
+    r22 = b'test_utf8'
+    r23 = CPy_DecodeUtf8(r22)
+    r24 = b'test_latin1'
+    r25 = CPy_DecodeLatin1(r24)
+    r26 = b'test_ascii'
+    r27 = CPy_DecodeAscii(r26)
+    return 1
diff --git a/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test b/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test
index ad495dddcb15..5794c499811e 100644
--- a/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test
+++ b/mypyc/test-data/irbuild-str.test
@@ -335,14 +335,13 @@ def f(b: bytes) -> None:
 [out]
 def f(b):
     b :: bytes
-    r0, r1, r2, r3, r4, r5 :: str
+    r0, r1, r2, r3, r4 :: str
 L0:
-    r0 = CPy_Decode(b, 0, 0)
-    r1 = 'utf-8'
-    r2 = CPy_Decode(b, r1, 0)
-    r3 = 'utf-8'
-    r4 = 'backslashreplace'
-    r5 = CPy_Decode(b, r3, r4)
+    r0 = CPy_DecodeUtf8(b)
+    r1 = CPy_DecodeUtf8(b)
+    r2 = 'utf-8'
+    r3 = 'backslashreplace'
+    r4 = CPy_Decode(b, r2, r3)
     return 1
 
 [case testEncode_64bit]