diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 7635a5a..c7f0f03 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ rtxt.decode = function (buf, offset) {
 rtxt.decode.bytes = 0
 
 rtxt.encodingLength = function (data) {
+  if (!data) return 2
   return (Buffer.isBuffer(data) ? data.length : Buffer.byteLength(data)) + 2
 }