diff --git a/Interop/Runtime/src/main/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/Utils.kt b/Interop/Runtime/src/main/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/Utils.kt
index 75f544ef09a..ec2acd311f9 100644
--- a/Interop/Runtime/src/main/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/Utils.kt
+++ b/Interop/Runtime/src/main/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/Utils.kt
@@ -392,6 +392,12 @@ private class CString(val bytes: ByteArray): CValues<ByteVar>() {
 public val String.cstr: CValues<ByteVar>
     get() = CString(encodeToUtf8(this))
 
+/**
+ * @return the value of zero-terminated UTF-8-encoded C string constructed from given [kotlin.String].
+ */
+public val String.utf8: CValues<ByteVar>
+    get() = CString(encodeToUtf8(this))
+
 /**
  * Convert this list of Kotlin strings to C array of C strings,
  * allocating memory for the array and C strings with given [AutofreeScope].
@@ -407,7 +413,7 @@ public fun Array<String>.toCStringArray(autofreeScope: AutofreeScope): CPointer<
         autofreeScope.allocArrayOf(this.map { it.cstr.getPointer(autofreeScope) })
 
 
-private class WCString(val chars: CharArray): CValues<UShortVar>() {
+private class U16CString(val chars: CharArray): CValues<UShortVar>() {
     override val size get() = 2 * (chars.size + 1)
 
     override val align get() = 2
@@ -425,16 +431,61 @@ private class WCString(val chars: CharArray): CValues<UShortVar>() {
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * @return the value of zero-terminated UTF-16-encoded C string constructed from given [kotlin.String].
+ */
 public val String.wcstr: CValues<UShortVar>
-    get() = WCString(this.toCharArray())
+    get() = U16CString(this.toCharArray())
 
 /**
- * TODO: should the name of the function reflect the encoding?
- *
+ * @return the value of zero-terminated UTF-16-encoded C string constructed from given [kotlin.String].
+ */
+public val String.utf16: CValues<UShortVar>
+    get() = U16CString(this.toCharArray())
+
+private class U32CString(val chars: CharArray): CValues<IntVar>() {
+    override val size get() = 4 * (chars.size + 1)
+
+    override val align get() = 4
+
+    // Optimization to avoid unneeded virtual calls in base class implementation.
+    override fun getPointer(scope: AutofreeScope): CPointer<IntVar> {
+        return place(interpretCPointer(scope.alloc(size, align).rawPtr)!!)
+    }
+
+    override fun place(placement: CPointer<IntVar>): CPointer<IntVar> {
+        var indexIn = 0
+        var indexOut = 0
+        while (indexIn < chars.size) {
+            var value = chars[indexIn++].toInt()
+            if (value >= 0xd800 && value < 0xdc00) {
+                // Surrogate pair.
+                if (indexIn >= chars.size - 1) throw IllegalArgumentException()
+                indexIn++
+                val next = chars[indexIn].toInt()
+                if (next < 0xdc00 || next >= 0xe000) throw IllegalArgumentException()
+                value = 0x10000 + ((value and 0x3ff) shl 10) + (next and 0x3ff)
+            }
+            nativeMemUtils.putInt((placement + indexOut)!!.pointed, value)
+            indexOut++
+        }
+        nativeMemUtils.putInt((placement + indexOut)!!.pointed, 0)
+        return placement
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ * @return the value of zero-terminated UTF-32-encoded C string constructed from given [kotlin.String].
+ */
+public val String.utf32: CValues<IntVar>
+    get() = U32CString(this.toCharArray())
+
+
+// TODO: optimize
+/**
  * @return the [kotlin.String] decoded from given zero-terminated UTF-8-encoded C string.
  */
-// TODO: optimize
-public fun CPointer<ByteVar>.toKString(): String {
+public fun CPointer<ByteVar>.toKStringFromUtf8(): String {
     val nativeBytes = this
 
     var length = 0
@@ -447,6 +498,62 @@ public fun CPointer<ByteVar>.toKString(): String {
     return decodeFromUtf8(bytes)
 }
 
+/**
+ * @return the [kotlin.String] decoded from given zero-terminated UTF-8-encoded C string.
+ */
+public fun CPointer<ByteVar>.toKString(): String = this.toKStringFromUtf8()
+
+/**
+ * @return the [kotlin.String] decoded from given zero-terminated UTF-16-encoded C string.
+ */
+public fun CPointer<ShortVar>.toKStringFromUtf16(): String {
+    val nativeBytes = this
+
+    var length = 0
+    while (nativeBytes[length] != 0.toShort()) {
+        ++length
+    }
+    val chars = CharArray(length)
+    var index = 0
+    while (index < length) {
+        chars[index] = nativeBytes[index].toChar()
+        ++index
+    }
+    return String(chars)
+}
+
+/**
+ * @return the [kotlin.String] decoded from given zero-terminated UTF-32-encoded C string.
+ */
+public fun CPointer<IntVar>.toKStringFromUtf32(): String {
+    val nativeBytes = this
+
+    var fromIndex = 0
+    var toIndex = 0
+    while (true) {
+        val value = nativeBytes[fromIndex++]
+        toIndex++
+        if (value == 0) break
+        if (value >= 0x10000 && value <= 0x10ffff) {
+            toIndex++
+        }
+    }
+    val length = toIndex
+    val chars = CharArray(length)
+    fromIndex = 0
+    toIndex = 0
+    while (toIndex < length) {
+        var value = nativeBytes[fromIndex++]
+        if (value >= 0x10000 && value <= 0x10ffff) {
+            chars[toIndex++] = (((value - 0x10000) shr 10) or 0xd800).toChar()
+            chars[toIndex++] = (((value - 0x10000) and 0x3ff) or 0xdc00).toChar()
+        } else {
+            chars[toIndex++] = value.toChar()
+        }
+    }
+    return String(chars)
+}
+
 public class MemScope : ArenaBase() {
 
     val memScope: MemScope
diff --git a/Interop/Runtime/src/native/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/NativeMem.kt b/Interop/Runtime/src/native/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/NativeMem.kt
index f9d73548f35..4478e87d34c 100644
--- a/Interop/Runtime/src/native/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/NativeMem.kt
+++ b/Interop/Runtime/src/native/kotlin/kotlinx/cinterop/NativeMem.kt
@@ -127,38 +127,26 @@ internal object nativeMemUtils {
     }
 }
 
-fun CPointer<ShortVar>.toKString(): String {
-    val nativeBytes = this
-
-    var length = 0
-    while (nativeBytes[length] != 0.toShort()) {
-        ++length
-    }
-    val bytes = CharArray(length)
-    var index = 0
-    while (index < length) {
-        bytes[index] = nativeBytes[index].toChar()
-        ++index
-    }
-    return String(bytes)
-}
-
-fun CPointer<UShortVar>.toKString(): String {
+public fun CPointer<UShortVar>.toKStringFromUtf16(): String {
     val nativeBytes = this
 
     var length = 0
     while (nativeBytes[length] != 0.toUShort()) {
         ++length
     }
-    val bytes = CharArray(length)
+    val chars = kotlin.CharArray(length)
     var index = 0
     while (index < length) {
-        bytes[index] = nativeBytes[index].toShort().toChar()
+        chars[index] = nativeBytes[index].toShort().toChar()
         ++index
     }
-    return String(bytes)
+    return String(chars)
 }
 
+public fun CPointer<ShortVar>.toKString(): String = this.toKStringFromUtf16()
+
+public fun CPointer<UShortVar>.toKString(): String = this.toKStringFromUtf16()
+
 @SymbolName("Kotlin_interop_malloc")
 private external fun malloc(size: Long, align: Int): NativePtr