diff --git a/lib/common/asar.js b/lib/common/asar.js
index d0dde2b7e744..e30199812d86 100644
--- a/lib/common/asar.js
+++ b/lib/common/asar.js
@@ -464,6 +464,10 @@
         options = {
           encoding: options
         }
+      } else if (options === null || options === undefined) {
+        options = {
+          encoding: null
+        }
       } else if (!util.isObject(options)) {
         throw new TypeError('Bad arguments')
       }