diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 25fc21e..98230a9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -54,10 +54,10 @@
     "test": "vitest run"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "@types/node": "24.5.1",
+    "@types/node": "24.5.2",
     "@vitest/coverage-v8": "3.2.4",
-    "eslint": "9.35.0",
-    "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "58.1.0",
+    "eslint": "9.36.0",
+    "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "60.4.0",
     "hyparquet-compressors": "1.1.1",
     "typescript": "5.9.2",
     "vitest": "3.2.4"
diff --git a/src/convert.js b/src/convert.js
index 271d52f..927741c 100644
--- a/src/convert.js
+++ b/src/convert.js
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 /**
- * @import {ColumnDecoder, DecodedArray, Encoding, ParquetParsers, SchemaElement} from '../src/types.d.ts'
+ * @import {ColumnDecoder, DecodedArray, Encoding, ParquetParsers} from '../src/types.d.ts'
  */
 
+const decoder = new TextDecoder()
+
 /**
  * Default type parsers when no custom ones are given
  * @type ParquetParsers
@@ -20,6 +22,9 @@ export const DEFAULT_PARSERS = {
     const dayInMillis = 86400000
     return new Date(days * dayInMillis)
   },
+  stringFromBytes(bytes) {
+    return bytes && decoder.decode(bytes)
+  },
 }
 
 /**
@@ -109,10 +114,10 @@ export function convert(data, columnDecoder) {
     throw new Error('parquet interval not supported')
   }
   if (ctype === 'UTF8' || ltype?.type === 'STRING' || utf8 && type === 'BYTE_ARRAY') {
-    const decoder = new TextDecoder()
     const arr = new Array(data.length)
     for (let i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
-      arr[i] = data[i] && decoder.decode(data[i])
+      const value = data[i]
+      arr[i] = value instanceof Uint8Array ? parsers.stringFromBytes(value) : value
     }
     return arr
   }
diff --git a/src/metadata.js b/src/metadata.js
index 55cd6f3..c70f8d9 100644
--- a/src/metadata.js
+++ b/src/metadata.js
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@ export function convertMetadata(value, schema, parsers) {
   const { type, converted_type, logical_type } = schema
   if (value === undefined) return value
   if (type === 'BOOLEAN') return value[0] === 1
-  if (type === 'BYTE_ARRAY') return new TextDecoder().decode(value)
+  if (type === 'BYTE_ARRAY') return parsers.stringFromBytes(value)
   const view = new DataView(value.buffer, value.byteOffset, value.byteLength)
   if (type === 'FLOAT' && view.byteLength === 4) return view.getFloat32(0, true)
   if (type === 'DOUBLE' && view.byteLength === 8) return view.getFloat64(0, true)
diff --git a/src/types.d.ts b/src/types.d.ts
index ea2b446..23a7b45 100644
--- a/src/types.d.ts
+++ b/src/types.d.ts
@@ -2,10 +2,11 @@
  * Custom parsers for columns
  */
 export interface ParquetParsers {
-  timestampFromMilliseconds(millis: bigint): any;
-  timestampFromMicroseconds(micros: bigint): any;
-  timestampFromNanoseconds(nanos: bigint): any;
-  dateFromDays(days: number): any;
+  timestampFromMilliseconds(millis: bigint): any
+  timestampFromMicroseconds(micros: bigint): any
+  timestampFromNanoseconds(nanos: bigint): any
+  dateFromDays(days: number): any
+  stringFromBytes(bytes: Uint8Array): any
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/test/convert.test.js b/test/convert.test.js
index b2b3437..00cddcd 100644
--- a/test/convert.test.js
+++ b/test/convert.test.js
@@ -225,6 +225,24 @@ describe('convert function', () => {
 
     expect(convert(data, columnParser)).toEqual([ 12358656, 12358656 ])
   })
+
+  it('respects custom parsers - stringFromBytes', () => {
+    const encoder = new TextEncoder()
+    const data = [encoder.encode('foo'), undefined]
+    /** @type {SchemaElement} */
+    const element = { name, converted_type: 'UTF8' }
+    const columnParser = {
+      element,
+      parsers: {
+        ...parsers,
+        stringFromBytes(/** @type {Uint8Array} */ bytes) {
+          return `custom-${new TextDecoder().decode(bytes)}`
+        },
+      },
+    }
+
+    expect(convert(data, columnParser)).toEqual(['custom-foo', undefined])
+  })
 })
 
 describe('parseFloat16', () => {