diff --git a/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo b/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo
index b31dbf6a49..9cd5126d69 100644
--- a/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo
+++ b/stdlib/src/collections/string/string.mojo
@@ -129,15 +129,11 @@ fn chr(c: Int) -> String:
 
     Examples:
     ```mojo
-    print(chr(97)) # "a"
-    print(chr(8364)) # "€"
+    print(chr(97), chr(8364)) # "a €"
     ```
     .
     """
 
-    if c < 0b1000_0000:  # 1 byte ASCII char
-        return String(String._buffer_type(c, 0))
-
     var num_bytes = _unicode_codepoint_utf8_byte_length(c)
     var p = UnsafePointer[UInt8].alloc(num_bytes + 1)
     _shift_unicode_to_utf8(p, c, num_bytes)
diff --git a/stdlib/src/collections/string/string_slice.mojo b/stdlib/src/collections/string/string_slice.mojo
index f632e806fd..a43671ee22 100644
--- a/stdlib/src/collections/string/string_slice.mojo
+++ b/stdlib/src/collections/string/string_slice.mojo
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@ fn _unicode_codepoint_utf8_byte_length(c: Int) -> Int:
     debug_assert(
         0 <= c <= 0x10FFFF, "Value: ", c, " is not a valid Unicode code point"
     )
-    alias sizes = SIMD[DType.int32, 4](0, 0b0111_1111, 0b0111_1111_1111, 0xFFFF)
-    return int((sizes < c).cast[DType.uint8]().reduce_add())
+    alias sizes = SIMD[DType.uint32, 4](0, 0x80, 0x8_00, 0x1_00_00)
+    return int((sizes <= c).cast[DType.uint8]().reduce_add())
 
 
 @always_inline
@@ -80,12 +80,17 @@ fn _utf8_first_byte_sequence_length(b: Byte) -> Int:
         (b & 0b1100_0000) != 0b1000_0000,
         "Function does not work correctly if given a continuation byte.",
     )
-    return int(count_leading_zeros(~b)) + int(b < 0b1000_0000)
+    return int(count_leading_zeros(~b) | (b < 0b1000_0000).cast[DType.uint8]())
 
 
-fn _shift_unicode_to_utf8(ptr: UnsafePointer[UInt8], c: Int, num_bytes: Int):
+fn _shift_unicode_to_utf8[
+    optimize_ascii: Bool = True
+](ptr: UnsafePointer[UInt8], c: Int, num_bytes: Int):
     """Shift unicode to utf8 representation.
 
+    Parameters:
+        optimize_ascii: Optimize for languages with mostly ASCII characters.
+
     ### Unicode (represented as UInt32 BE) to UTF-8 conversion:
     - 1: 00000000 00000000 00000000 0aaaaaaa -> 0aaaaaaa
         - a
@@ -98,19 +103,32 @@ fn _shift_unicode_to_utf8(ptr: UnsafePointer[UInt8], c: Int, num_bytes: Int):
         - (a >> 18) | 0b11110000, (b >> 12) | 0b10000000, (c >> 6) | 0b10000000,
         d | 0b10000000
     """
-    if num_bytes == 1:
-        ptr[0] = UInt8(c)
-        return
 
-    var shift = 6 * (num_bytes - 1)
-    var mask = UInt8(0xFF) >> (num_bytes + 1)
-    var num_bytes_marker = UInt8(0xFF) << (8 - num_bytes)
-    ptr[0] = ((c >> shift) & mask) | num_bytes_marker
-    for i in range(1, num_bytes):
-        shift -= 6
-        ptr[i] = ((c >> shift) & 0b0011_1111) | 0b1000_0000
+    @parameter
+    if optimize_ascii:
+        if likely(num_bytes == 1):
+            ptr[0] = UInt8(c)
+            return
+        var shift = 6 * (num_bytes - 1)
+        var mask = UInt8(0xFF) >> (num_bytes + 1)
+        var num_bytes_marker = UInt8(0xFF) << (8 - num_bytes)
+        ptr[0] = ((c >> shift) & mask) | num_bytes_marker
+        for i in range(1, num_bytes):
+            shift -= 6
+            ptr[i] = ((c >> shift) & 0b0011_1111) | 0b1000_0000
+    else:
+        var shift = 6 * (num_bytes - 1)
+        var mask = UInt8(0xFF) >> (num_bytes + int(num_bytes > 1))
+        var num_bytes_marker = UInt8(0xFF) << (8 - num_bytes)
+        ptr[0] = ((c >> shift) & mask) | (
+            num_bytes_marker & -int(num_bytes != 1)
+        )
+        for i in range(1, num_bytes):
+            shift -= 6
+            ptr[i] = ((c >> shift) & 0b0011_1111) | 0b1000_0000
 
 
+@always_inline
 fn _utf8_byte_type(b: SIMD[DType.uint8, _], /) -> __type_of(b):
     """UTF-8 byte type.
 
@@ -125,7 +143,7 @@ fn _utf8_byte_type(b: SIMD[DType.uint8, _], /) -> __type_of(b):
         - 3 -> start of 3 byte long sequence.
         - 4 -> start of 4 byte long sequence.
     """
-    return count_leading_zeros(~(b & UInt8(0b1111_0000)))
+    return count_leading_zeros(~b)
 
 
 @always_inline
diff --git a/stdlib/test/collections/string/test_string.mojo b/stdlib/test/collections/string/test_string.mojo
index 74ae492479..f2c9e37486 100644
--- a/stdlib/test/collections/string/test_string.mojo
+++ b/stdlib/test/collections/string/test_string.mojo
@@ -326,6 +326,7 @@ def test_ord():
 
 
 def test_chr():
+    assert_equal("\0", chr(0))
     assert_equal("A", chr(65))
     assert_equal("a", chr(97))
     assert_equal("!", chr(33))