diff --git a/src/helma/util/MD5Encoder.java b/src/helma/util/MD5Encoder.java
index 32b296fd..82b43754 100644
--- a/src/helma/util/MD5Encoder.java
+++ b/src/helma/util/MD5Encoder.java
@@ -22,12 +22,16 @@ public class MD5Encoder {
     }
 
     public static String encode(String str) throws NoSuchAlgorithmException {
+        return encode (str.getBytes());
+    }
+
+    public static String encode(byte[] message) throws NoSuchAlgorithmException {
         md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
-        byte[] b = md.digest(str.getBytes());
-        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer();
+        byte[] b = md.digest(message);
+        StringBuffer buf = new StringBuffer(b.length*2);
         for ( int i=0; i<b.length; i++ )    {
             int j = (b[i]<0) ? 256+b[i] : b[i];
-            if ( j<10 ) buf.append("0");
+            if ( j<16 ) buf.append("0");
             buf.append(Integer.toHexString(j));
         }
         return buf.toString();