diff --git a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/ByteBufUtil.java b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/ByteBufUtil.java
index f8d4f921d7..f2ce52256d 100644
--- a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/ByteBufUtil.java
+++ b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/ByteBufUtil.java
@@ -340,10 +340,19 @@ public final class ByteBufUtil {
      * is allocated via the {@link ByteBufAllocator}.
      */
     public static ByteBuf encodeString(ByteBufAllocator alloc, CharBuffer src, Charset charset) {
+        return encodeString0(alloc, false, src, charset);
+    }
+
+    static ByteBuf encodeString0(ByteBufAllocator alloc, boolean enforceHeap, CharBuffer src, Charset charset) {
         final CharsetEncoder encoder = CharsetUtil.getEncoder(charset);
         int length = (int) ((double) src.remaining() * encoder.maxBytesPerChar());
         boolean release = true;
-        final ByteBuf dst = alloc.buffer(length);
+        final ByteBuf dst;
+        if (enforceHeap) {
+            dst = alloc.heapBuffer(length);
+        } else {
+            dst = alloc.buffer(length);
+        }
         try {
             final ByteBuffer dstBuf = dst.internalNioBuffer(0, length);
             final int pos = dstBuf.position();
diff --git a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java
index f9edbb38d9..ad707079ce 100644
--- a/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java
+++ b/buffer/src/main/java/io/netty/buffer/Unpooled.java
@@ -412,12 +412,7 @@ public final class Unpooled {
     public static ByteBuf copiedBuffer(ByteBuf buffer) {
         int readable = buffer.readableBytes();
         if (readable > 0) {
-            ByteBuf copy;
-            if (buffer.isDirect()) {
-                copy = directBuffer(readable);
-            } else {
-                copy = buffer(readable);
-            }
+            ByteBuf copy = buffer(readable);
             copy.writeBytes(buffer, buffer.readerIndex(), readable);
             return copy;
         } else {
@@ -637,6 +632,9 @@ public final class Unpooled {
      * {@code 0} and the length of the encoded string respectively.
      */
     public static ByteBuf copiedBuffer(char[] array, Charset charset) {
+        if (array == null) {
+            throw new NullPointerException("array");
+        }
         return copiedBuffer(array, 0, array.length, charset);
     }
 
@@ -657,7 +655,7 @@ public final class Unpooled {
     }
 
     private static ByteBuf copiedBuffer(CharBuffer buffer, Charset charset) {
-        return ByteBufUtil.encodeString(ALLOC, buffer, charset);
+        return ByteBufUtil.encodeString0(ALLOC, true, buffer, charset);
     }
 
     /**