diff --git a/test/parallel/test-child-process-exec-buffer.js b/test/parallel/test-child-process-exec-buffer.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 092304879e..0000000000
--- a/test/parallel/test-child-process-exec-buffer.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-'use strict';
-const common = require('../common');
-const assert = require('assert');
-const exec = require('child_process').exec;
-const os = require('os');
-const str = 'hello';
-
-// default encoding
-exec('echo ' + str, common.mustCall(function(err, stdout, stderr) {
-  assert.strictEqual(typeof stdout, 'string', 'Expected stdout to be a string');
-  assert.strictEqual(typeof stderr, 'string', 'Expected stderr to be a string');
-  assert.strictEqual(str + os.EOL, stdout);
-}));
-
-// no encoding (Buffers expected)
-exec('echo ' + str, {
-  encoding: null
-}, common.mustCall(function(err, stdout, stderr) {
-  assert.strictEqual(stdout instanceof Buffer, true,
-                     'Expected stdout to be a Buffer');
-  assert.strictEqual(stderr instanceof Buffer, true,
-                     'Expected stderr to be a Buffer');
-  assert.strictEqual(str + os.EOL, stdout.toString());
-}));
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-child-process-exec-encoding.js b/test/parallel/test-child-process-exec-encoding.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ba80ccda8c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parallel/test-child-process-exec-encoding.js
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+'use strict';
+const common = require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const cp = require('child_process');
+const stdoutData = 'foo';
+const stderrData = 'bar';
+const expectedStdout = `${stdoutData}\n`;
+const expectedStderr = `${stderrData}\n`;
+
+if (process.argv[2] === 'child') {
+  // The following console calls are part of the test.
+  console.log(stdoutData);
+  console.error(stderrData);
+} else {
+  function run(options, callback) {
+    const cmd = `${process.execPath} ${__filename} child`;
+
+    cp.exec(cmd, options, common.mustCall((err, stdout, stderr) => {
+      assert.ifError(err);
+      callback(stdout, stderr);
+    }));
+  }
+
+  // Test default encoding, which should be utf8.
+  run({}, (stdout, stderr) => {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof stdout, 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof stderr, 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(stdout, expectedStdout);
+    assert.strictEqual(stderr, expectedStderr);
+  });
+
+  // Test explicit utf8 encoding.
+  run({ encoding: 'utf8' }, (stdout, stderr) => {
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof stdout, 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(typeof stderr, 'string');
+    assert.strictEqual(stdout, expectedStdout);
+    assert.strictEqual(stderr, expectedStderr);
+  });
+
+  // Test cases that result in buffer encodings.
+  [undefined, null, 'buffer', 'invalid'].forEach((encoding) => {
+    run({ encoding }, (stdout, stderr) => {
+      assert(stdout instanceof Buffer);
+      assert(stdout instanceof Buffer);
+      assert.strictEqual(stdout.toString(), expectedStdout);
+      assert.strictEqual(stderr.toString(), expectedStderr);
+    });
+  });
+}