diff --git a/__test__/index.spec.ts b/__test__/index.spec.ts
index a052faa..4832f6e 100644
--- a/__test__/index.spec.ts
+++ b/__test__/index.spec.ts
@@ -12,12 +12,22 @@ test('compress should be async version of compressSync', async (t) => {
   t.deepEqual(await compress(fixture), compressSync(fixture))
 })
 
-test('should be able to decompress sync', (t) => {
+test('should be able to uncompress sync', (t) => {
   const fixture = 'hello world 😂 🎧 🚀'
   t.deepEqual(uncompressSync(compressSync(fixture)), Buffer.from(fixture))
 })
 
-test('should be able to decompress', async (t) => {
+test('should be able to uncompress sync into string', (t) => {
+  const fixture = 'hello world 😂 🎧 🚀'
+  t.deepEqual(uncompressSync(compressSync(fixture), { asBuffer: false }), fixture)
+})
+
+test('should be able to uncompress', async (t) => {
   const fixture = 'hello world 😂 🎧 🚀'
   t.deepEqual(await uncompress(await compress(fixture)), Buffer.from(fixture))
 })
+
+test('should be able to uncompress into string', async (t) => {
+  const fixture = 'hello world 😂 🎧 🚀'
+  t.deepEqual(await uncompress(await compress(fixture), { asBuffer: false }), fixture)
+})
diff --git a/index.d.ts b/index.d.ts
index 293731d..6c541b6 100644
--- a/index.d.ts
+++ b/index.d.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,10 @@
 export function compressSync(input: Buffer | string | ArrayBuffer | Uint8Array): Buffer
 export function compress(input: Buffer | string | ArrayBuffer | Uint8Array): Promise<Buffer>
 export function uncompressSync(compressed: Buffer): Buffer
+export function uncompressSync(compressed: Buffer, opt: { asBuffer: true }): Buffer
+export function uncompressSync(compressed: Buffer, opt: { asBuffer: false }): string
+export function uncompressSync(compressed: Buffer, opt?: { asBuffer: boolean }): string | Buffer
 export function uncompress(compressed: Buffer): Promise<Buffer>
+export function uncompress(compressed: Buffer, opt: { asBuffer: true }): Promise<Buffer>
+export function uncompress(compressed: Buffer, opt: { asBuffer: false }): Promise<string>
+export function uncompress(compressed: Buffer, opt?: { asBuffer: boolean }): Promise<string | Buffer>
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 1bcb543..fdeda4f 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ const { loadBinding } = require('@node-rs/helper')
 const {
   compressSync: _compressSync,
   compress: _compress,
-  uncompress,
-  uncompressSync,
+  uncompress: _uncompress,
+  uncompressSync: _uncompressSync,
 } = loadBinding(__dirname, 'snappy', '@napi-rs/snappy')
 
 module.exports = {
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ module.exports = {
   compress: function compress(input) {
     return _compress(Buffer.from(input))
   },
-  uncompress,
-  uncompressSync,
+  uncompress: function uncompress(input, opt = { asBuffer: true }) {
+    return _uncompress(input, Boolean(opt.asBuffer))
+  },
+  uncompressSync: function uncompressSync(input, opt = { asBuffer: true }) {
+    return _uncompressSync(input, Boolean(opt.asBuffer))
+  },
 }
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 60b6686..6a3c201 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,12 @@
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate napi_derive;
 
-use napi::{CallContext, Env, Error, JsBuffer, JsBufferValue, JsObject, Ref, Result, Status, Task};
+use std::ffi::CString;
+
+use napi::{
+  CallContext, Env, Error, JsBoolean, JsBuffer, JsBufferValue, JsObject, JsUnknown, Ref, Result,
+  Status, Task,
+};
 use snap::raw::{Decoder, Encoder};
 
 #[cfg(all(
@@ -48,11 +53,12 @@ impl Task for Enc {
 struct Dec {
   inner: Decoder,
   data: Ref<JsBufferValue>,
+  as_buffer: bool,
 }
 
 impl Task for Dec {
   type Output = Vec<u8>;
-  type JsValue = JsBuffer;
+  type JsValue = JsUnknown;
 
   fn compute(&mut self) -> Result<Self::Output> {
     let data_ref: &[u8] = &self.data;
@@ -63,7 +69,15 @@ impl Task for Dec {
   }
 
   fn resolve(self, env: Env, output: Self::Output) -> Result<Self::JsValue> {
-    env.create_buffer_with_data(output).map(|b| b.into_raw())
+    if self.as_buffer {
+      env
+        .create_buffer_with_data(output)
+        .map(|b| b.into_raw().into_unknown())
+    } else {
+      let len = output.len();
+      let c_string = CString::new(output)?;
+      unsafe { env.create_string_from_c_char(c_string.as_ptr(), len) }.map(|v| v.into_unknown())
+    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -89,24 +103,38 @@ fn compress(ctx: CallContext) -> Result<JsObject> {
   ctx.env.spawn(encoder).map(|v| v.promise_object())
 }
 
-#[js_function(1)]
-fn uncompress_sync(ctx: CallContext) -> Result<JsBuffer> {
+#[js_function(2)]
+fn uncompress_sync(ctx: CallContext) -> Result<JsUnknown> {
   let data = ctx.get::<JsBuffer>(0)?;
+  let as_buffer = ctx.get::<JsBoolean>(1)?.get_value()?;
   let mut dec = Decoder::new();
   dec
     .decompress_vec(&data.into_value()?)
     .map_err(|e| Error::new(napi::Status::GenericFailure, format!("{}", e)))
-    .and_then(|d| ctx.env.create_buffer_with_data(d))
-    .map(|b| b.into_raw())
+    .and_then(|d| {
+      if as_buffer {
+        ctx
+          .env
+          .create_buffer_with_data(d)
+          .map(|b| b.into_raw().into_unknown())
+      } else {
+        let len = d.len();
+        let c_string = CString::new(d)?;
+        unsafe { ctx.env.create_string_from_c_char(c_string.as_ptr(), len) }
+          .map(|v| v.into_unknown())
+      }
+    })
 }
 
-#[js_function(1)]
+#[js_function(2)]
 fn uncompress(ctx: CallContext) -> Result<JsObject> {
   let data = ctx.get::<JsBuffer>(0)?;
+  let as_buffer = ctx.get::<JsBoolean>(1)?.get_value()?;
   let dec = Decoder::new();
   let decoder = Dec {
     inner: dec,
     data: data.into_ref()?,
+    as_buffer,
   };
   ctx.env.spawn(decoder).map(|v| v.promise_object())
 }