diff --git a/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/ServerSentEvent.scala b/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/ServerSentEvent.scala
index dfe8c4c2d..c7c4b4987 100644
--- a/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/ServerSentEvent.scala
+++ b/zio-http/shared/src/main/scala/zio/http/ServerSentEvent.scala
@@ -45,12 +45,17 @@ final case class ServerSentEvent[T](
   retry: Option[Duration] = None,
 ) {
 
-  def encode(implicit binaryCodec: BinaryCodec[T]): String = {
-    val dataString: String =
-      data match {
-        case s: String => s
-        case _         => binaryCodec.encode(data).asString(Charsets.Utf8)
-      }
+  def encode(implicit binaryCodec: BinaryCodec[T]): String =
+    encodeWith {
+      case s: String => s
+      case data      => binaryCodec.encode(data).asString(Charsets.Utf8)
+    }
+
+  def encoded(implicit ev: T <:< String): String =
+    encodeWith(ev)
+
+  def encodeWith(f: T => String): String = {
+    val dataString: String = f(data)
 
     val dataLines: Array[String] = dataString.split("\n")
     val isComment                = dataString.startsWith(":")
@@ -101,6 +106,7 @@ final case class ServerSentEvent[T](
     }
     sb.append('\n').toString
   }
+
 }
 
 object ServerSentEvent {
@@ -128,17 +134,18 @@ object ServerSentEvent {
   implicit def defaultBinaryCodec[T](implicit schema: Schema[T]): BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[T]] =
     defaultContentCodec(schema).defaultCodec
 
-  implicit def binaryCodec[T](implicit binaryCodec: BinaryCodec[T]): BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[T]] =
-    new BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[T]] {
-      override def decode(whole: Chunk[Byte]): Either[DecodeError, ServerSentEvent[T]] = {
+  val rawEventLines: BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]]] =
+    new BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]]] {
+
+      override def decode(whole: Chunk[Byte]): Either[DecodeError, ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]]] = {
         val event = processEvent(Chunk.fromArray(whole.asString(Charsets.Utf8).split("\n")))
         if (event.data.isEmpty && event.retry.isEmpty)
           Left(DecodeError.EmptyContent("Neither 'data' nor 'retry' fields specified"))
         else
-          decodeDataField(event)
+          Right(event)
       }
 
-      override def streamDecoder: ZPipeline[Any, DecodeError, Byte, ServerSentEvent[T]] =
+      override def streamDecoder: ZPipeline[Any, DecodeError, Byte, ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]]] =
         ZPipeline.utf8Decode.orDie >>>
           ZPipeline.splitOn("\n") >>>
           ZPipeline
@@ -151,7 +158,6 @@ object ServerSentEvent {
             .filter { case (completed, event) => completed && event.nonEmpty }
             .map { case (_, lines) => processEvent(lines) }
             .filter(event => event.data.nonEmpty || event.retry.nonEmpty)
-            .mapZIO(event => ZIO.fromEither(decodeDataField(event)))
 
       private def processEvent(lines: Chunk[String]): ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]] =
         lines.foldLeft(ServerSentEvent(data = Chunk.empty[String])) { case (event, line) =>
@@ -172,6 +178,40 @@ object ServerSentEvent {
           }
         }
 
+      override def encode(value: ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]]): Chunk[Byte] =
+        Chunk.fromArray(value.encodeWith(_.mkString("\n")).getBytes(Charsets.Utf8))
+
+      override def streamEncoder: ZPipeline[Any, Nothing, ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]], Byte] =
+        ZPipeline.mapChunks(value => value.flatMap(c => c.encodeWith(_.mkString("\n")).getBytes(Charsets.Utf8)))
+
+    }
+
+  val rawEvent: BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[String]] =
+    new BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[String]] {
+
+      override def decode(whole: Chunk[Byte]): Either[DecodeError, ServerSentEvent[String]] =
+        rawEventLines.decode(whole).map { e => e.copy(data = e.data.asString) }
+
+      override def streamDecoder: ZPipeline[Any, DecodeError, Byte, ServerSentEvent[String]] =
+        rawEventLines.streamDecoder.map { e => e.copy(data = e.data.asString) }
+
+      override def encode(value: ServerSentEvent[String]): Chunk[Byte] =
+        Chunk.fromArray(value.encoded.getBytes(Charsets.Utf8))
+
+      override def streamEncoder: ZPipeline[Any, Nothing, ServerSentEvent[String], Byte] =
+        ZPipeline.mapChunks(value => value.flatMap(c => c.encoded.getBytes(Charsets.Utf8)))
+
+    }
+
+  implicit def binaryCodec[T](implicit binaryCodec: BinaryCodec[T]): BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[T]] =
+    new BinaryCodec[ServerSentEvent[T]] {
+
+      override def decode(whole: Chunk[Byte]): Either[DecodeError, ServerSentEvent[T]] =
+        rawEventLines.decode(whole).flatMap(decodeDataField)
+
+      override def streamDecoder: ZPipeline[Any, DecodeError, Byte, ServerSentEvent[T]] =
+        rawEventLines.streamDecoder.mapZIO(event => ZIO.fromEither(decodeDataField(event)))
+
       private def decodeDataField(event: ServerSentEvent[Chunk[String]]): Either[DecodeError, ServerSentEvent[T]] =
         binaryCodec
           .decode(Chunk.fromArray(event.data.mkString("\n").getBytes(Charsets.Utf8)))
@@ -182,6 +222,7 @@ object ServerSentEvent {
 
       override def streamEncoder: ZPipeline[Any, Nothing, ServerSentEvent[T], Byte] =
         ZPipeline.mapChunks(value => value.flatMap(c => c.encode.getBytes(Charsets.Utf8)))
+
     }
 
   implicit def contentCodec[T](implicit