@jrhee17 sure this sounds like something useful. Please provide a PR and I will review it :) @jrhee17 please let me know once you have a PR ... Apologies for the delay -- I was drafting a POC on the client-side library to get a better idea on how this encoder will be used. The PR has been opened 🍀 
shouldn't `address.length() > 108` be good enough ? As this one is `@Sharable` should we add a private constructor, mark it final and expose a static instance that the user can use ? why we dont write stuff directly to the `ByteBuf` ? We can use `out.writeCharSequence(...)` consider using a `switch` as replacement for all the `if ... else if ... else`. Can we make this `216` an static field and add comments on what this is about ?  again consider using `out.writeCharSequence(...)` same comment as above.  please make this `108` an static field and add comments what this is about.  closing using index based for loop to eliminate GC pressure  please add javadocs  add empty line above  Just use normal string concats...  please add javadocs and consider removing final to be more consistent  same comment as above... consider just using normal string concat  you should call `msg.retain()` as `SimpleChannelInboundHandler` will release the msg after `channelRead0` returns  call `readMessage.release()` in a finally block  add `sync()` also close the channels and shutdown the group in a finally block  call `byteBuf.release();` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` call `byteBuf.release();` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` call `byteBuf.release()` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` call `byteBuf.release()` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` call `byteBuf.release()` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` call `byteBuf.release()` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` call `byteBuf.release()` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` call `byteBuf.release()` and also add `assertFalse(ch.finish());` I think we have a couple of options:
1) Pad the string to 108 length, and use `writeCharSequence `
    -> I'm not sure the extra string allocation will be worth it. I don't think readability will improve either, since we still need to 1) get the size of the address in bytes 2) allocate a new 108 byte length string 3) and write to `ByteBuffer`.
2) Restrict user input to accept only 108 byte addresses
    -> usability 😢 
3) Keep AS-IS

I prefer 3, but might be willing to change to 1) if you wish ditto I've added an `ObjectUtil.checkNotNull` check to make my intention clear
(unless you meant we should allow null addresses...   let me know if this was your intention 🙏 ) I wonder why even need the `StringBuilder` at all. Cant you just directly write all of this to the `ByteBuf` step-by-step ?...  why you can't just use `writeCharSequence(...)` here ? It seems there is no need to convert to `byte[]` first. Same comment is true for other places. also wouldn't it be better to use `out.writeZero(...)` ? There is no need for this extra allocation. consider using `SimpleChannelInboundHandler` and just consume the message in `channelRead0`. This way it is correctly released without hitting the tail of the pipeline  imho it should just be `write(...)....` this throw makes no sense as it will be not propagated at all. I'm still looking for a more efficient way to do this.
The reason I can't just switch to `writeCharSequence` because I need to know the number of bytes to pad to length 108.
https://github.com/netty/netty/blob/b86a6c2e49c37b4872f075debddc06a9adcc4670/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageEncoder.java#L93

Any ideas are welcome `writeCharSequence` will return the number of bytes written. So You can use this, or I am missing something ? yea...   I don't read javadocs carefully 🤦  you would be better of to write bytes for the know things as this will be cheaper then doing a conversation:

```
out.writeByte((byte) ' ');
```

Same comment for others. can you add a comment what the `4` is about ? nit: not really your PRs fault but either the if statement is incorrect or the exception message in terms of allowed port range. nit: you could move the for loop into this block as there is no need to do the loop when its empty anyway  nit: consider replacing by a switch statement.  nit: remove final as we usually not it for params  nit: remove final as we usually not it for params  nit you could also simplify this as:

```
public void write(final ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, ChannelPromise promise) throws Exception {
    ChannelFuture future = ctx.write(msg, promise);
    if (msg instanceof HAProxyMessage) {
        future.addListener(...)
    }
}
``` I would remove this... the user will know that it failed because we fail the promise  @jrhee17 one question... isn't `TEXT_PREFIX` a better name ? huh... binary <-> text.     updated. Should this catch RuntimeException? I think at least we should also catch `IndexOutOfBoundsException`
Consider adding support for HAProxyMessageEncoder
**Subject**
Consider adding support for `HAProxyMessageEncoder`

**Motivation**
I am working on a [project](https://github.com/line/armeria) which offers server-side PROXY protocol support (using netty `HaProxyMessageDecoder` 💯 )

All works fine, but we have some limitations:

1) Sometimes, clients may want to pass an arbitrary source, destination address directly without using a haproxy server.

client -> server (no haproxy server in the middle)

2) More critically, users may want to preserve the original source, dest address in a multi-layer proxy architecture. Currently, our servers have no way of relaying this information to the next layer without an encoder.

client -> server1 -> server2 -> server3

-----

I have a PR cooking at the moment, but I would like to confirm if this is something you are willing to review/accept before proceeding further.

Any comments/feedback are welcome

POC: https://github.com/jrhee17/netty/commit/0dfa47b6adb263c2b46fef6ad3ec04ef1878e948
codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyConstants.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessage.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageDecoder.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxySSLTLV.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyTLV.java example/pom.xml
codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyConstants.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessage.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageDecoder.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageEncoder.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxySSLTLV.java codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyTLV.java example/pom.xml example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyClient.java example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyHandler.java example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyServer.java
codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyIntegrationTest.java codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HaProxyMessageEncoderTest.java
diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyConstants.java b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyConstants.java
index c2a4e22c723..4a79b172d39 100644
--- a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyConstants.java
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyConstants.java
@@ -56,5 +56,31 @@ final class HAProxyConstants {
     static final byte TPAF_UNIX_STREAM_BYTE = 0x31;
     static final byte TPAF_UNIX_DGRAM_BYTE = 0x32;
 
+    /**
+     * V2 protocol binary header prefix
+     */
+    static final byte[] BINARY_PREFIX = {
+            (byte) 0x0D,
+            (byte) 0x0A,
+            (byte) 0x0D,
+            (byte) 0x0A,
+            (byte) 0x00,
+            (byte) 0x0D,
+            (byte) 0x0A,
+            (byte) 0x51,
+            (byte) 0x55,
+            (byte) 0x49,
+            (byte) 0x54,
+            (byte) 0x0A
+    };
+
+    static final byte[] TEXT_PREFIX = {
+            (byte) 'P',
+            (byte) 'R',
+            (byte) 'O',
+            (byte) 'X',
+            (byte) 'Y',
+    };
+
     private HAProxyConstants() { }
 }
diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessage.java b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessage.java
index 1777e672574..e501a6950c8 100644
--- a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessage.java
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessage.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import io.netty.util.ResourceLeakDetectorFactory;
 import io.netty.util.ResourceLeakTracker;
 import io.netty.util.internal.ObjectUtil;
+import io.netty.util.internal.StringUtil;
 
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -59,9 +60,16 @@ private HAProxyMessage(
     }
 
     /**
-     * Creates a new instance
+     * Creates a new instance of HAProxyMessage.
+     * @param protocolVersion the protocol version.
+     * @param command the command.
+     * @param proxiedProtocol the protocol containing the address family and transport protocol.
+     * @param sourceAddress the source address.
+     * @param destinationAddress the destination address.
+     * @param sourcePort the source port. This value must be 0 for unix, unspec addresses.
+     * @param destinationPort the destination port. This value must be 0 for unix, unspec addresses.
      */
-    private HAProxyMessage(
+    public HAProxyMessage(
             HAProxyProtocolVersion protocolVersion, HAProxyCommand command, HAProxyProxiedProtocol proxiedProtocol,
             String sourceAddress, String destinationAddress, int sourcePort, int destinationPort) {
 
@@ -70,20 +78,30 @@ private HAProxyMessage(
     }
 
     /**
-     * Creates a new instance
+     * Creates a new instance of HAProxyMessage.
+     * @param protocolVersion the protocol version.
+     * @param command the command.
+     * @param proxiedProtocol the protocol containing the address family and transport protocol.
+     * @param sourceAddress the source address.
+     * @param destinationAddress the destination address.
+     * @param sourcePort the source port. This value must be 0 for unix, unspec addresses.
+     * @param destinationPort the destination port. This value must be 0 for unix, unspec addresses.
+     * @param tlvs the list of tlvs.
      */
-    private HAProxyMessage(
+    public HAProxyMessage(
             HAProxyProtocolVersion protocolVersion, HAProxyCommand command, HAProxyProxiedProtocol proxiedProtocol,
             String sourceAddress, String destinationAddress, int sourcePort, int destinationPort,
-            List<HAProxyTLV> tlvs) {
+            List<? extends HAProxyTLV> tlvs) {
 
+        ObjectUtil.checkNotNull(protocolVersion, "protocolVersion");
         ObjectUtil.checkNotNull(proxiedProtocol, "proxiedProtocol");
+        ObjectUtil.checkNotNull(tlvs, "tlvs");
         AddressFamily addrFamily = proxiedProtocol.addressFamily();
 
         checkAddress(sourceAddress, addrFamily);
         checkAddress(destinationAddress, addrFamily);
-        checkPort(sourcePort);
-        checkPort(destinationPort);
+        checkPort(sourcePort, addrFamily);
+        checkPort(destinationPort, addrFamily);
 
         this.protocolVersion = protocolVersion;
         this.command = command;
@@ -329,9 +347,13 @@ static HAProxyMessage decodeHeader(String header) {
             throw new HAProxyProtocolException("invalid TCP4/6 header: " + header + " (expected: 6 parts)");
         }
 
-        return new HAProxyMessage(
-                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V1, HAProxyCommand.PROXY,
-                protAndFam, parts[2], parts[3], parts[4], parts[5]);
+        try {
+            return new HAProxyMessage(
+                    HAProxyProtocolVersion.V1, HAProxyCommand.PROXY,
+                    protAndFam, parts[2], parts[3], parts[4], parts[5]);
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            throw new HAProxyProtocolException("invalid HAProxy message", e);
+        }
     }
 
     /**
@@ -373,18 +395,18 @@ private static String ipBytesToString(ByteBuf header, int addressLen) {
      *
      * @param value                      the port
      * @return                           port as an integer
-     * @throws HAProxyProtocolException  if port is not a valid integer
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException  if port is not a valid integer
      */
     private static int portStringToInt(String value) {
         int port;
         try {
             port = Integer.parseInt(value);
         } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
-            throw new HAProxyProtocolException("invalid port: " + value, e);
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid port: " + value, e);
         }
 
         if (port <= 0 || port > 65535) {
-            throw new HAProxyProtocolException("invalid port: " + value + " (expected: 1 ~ 65535)");
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid port: " + value + " (expected: 1 ~ 65535)");
         }
 
         return port;
@@ -395,7 +417,7 @@ private static int portStringToInt(String value) {
      *
      * @param address                    human-readable address
      * @param addrFamily                 the {@link AddressFamily} to check the address against
-     * @throws HAProxyProtocolException  if the address is invalid
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException  if the address is invalid
      */
     private static void checkAddress(String address, AddressFamily addrFamily) {
         ObjectUtil.checkNotNull(addrFamily, "addrFamily");
@@ -403,10 +425,14 @@ private static void checkAddress(String address, AddressFamily addrFamily) {
         switch (addrFamily) {
             case AF_UNSPEC:
                 if (address != null) {
-                    throw new HAProxyProtocolException("unable to validate an AF_UNSPEC address: " + address);
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("unable to validate an AF_UNSPEC address: " + address);
                 }
                 return;
             case AF_UNIX:
+                ObjectUtil.checkNotNull(address, "address");
+                if (address.getBytes(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII).length > 108) {
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid AF_UNIX address: " + address);
+                }
                 return;
         }
 
@@ -415,28 +441,41 @@ private static void checkAddress(String address, AddressFamily addrFamily) {
         switch (addrFamily) {
             case AF_IPv4:
                 if (!NetUtil.isValidIpV4Address(address)) {
-                    throw new HAProxyProtocolException("invalid IPv4 address: " + address);
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid IPv4 address: " + address);
                 }
                 break;
             case AF_IPv6:
                 if (!NetUtil.isValidIpV6Address(address)) {
-                    throw new HAProxyProtocolException("invalid IPv6 address: " + address);
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid IPv6 address: " + address);
                 }
                 break;
             default:
-                throw new Error();
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("unexpected addrFamily: " + addrFamily);
         }
     }
 
     /**
-     * Validate a UDP/TCP port
+     * Validate the port depending on the addrFamily.
      *
      * @param port                       the UDP/TCP port
-     * @throws HAProxyProtocolException  if the port is out of range (0-65535 inclusive)
+     * @throws IllegalArgumentException  if the port is out of range (0-65535 inclusive)
      */
-    private static void checkPort(int port) {
-        if (port < 0 || port > 65535) {
-            throw new HAProxyProtocolException("invalid port: " + port + " (expected: 1 ~ 65535)");
+    private static void checkPort(int port, AddressFamily addrFamily) {
+        switch (addrFamily) {
+        case AF_IPv6:
+        case AF_IPv4:
+            if (port < 0 || port > 65535) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("invalid port: " + port + " (expected: 0 ~ 65535)");
+            }
+            break;
+        case AF_UNIX:
+        case AF_UNSPEC:
+            if (port != 0) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("port cannot be specified with addrFamily: " + addrFamily);
+            }
+            break;
+        default:
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("unexpected addrFamily: " + addrFamily);
         }
     }
 
@@ -498,6 +537,14 @@ public List<HAProxyTLV> tlvs() {
         return tlvs;
     }
 
+    int tlvNumBytes() {
+        int tlvNumBytes = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < tlvs.size(); i++) {
+            tlvNumBytes += tlvs.get(i).totalNumBytes();
+        }
+        return tlvNumBytes;
+    }
+
     @Override
     public HAProxyMessage touch() {
         tryRecord();
@@ -556,4 +603,26 @@ protected void deallocate() {
             }
         }
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(256)
+                .append(StringUtil.simpleClassName(this))
+                .append("(protocolVersion: ").append(protocolVersion)
+                .append(", command: ").append(command)
+                .append(", proxiedProtocol: ").append(proxiedProtocol)
+                .append(", sourceAddress: ").append(sourceAddress)
+                .append(", destinationAddress: ").append(destinationAddress)
+                .append(", sourcePort: ").append(sourcePort)
+                .append(", destinationPort: ").append(destinationPort)
+                .append(", tlvs: [");
+        if (!tlvs.isEmpty()) {
+            for (HAProxyTLV tlv: tlvs) {
+                sb.append(tlv).append(", ");
+            }
+            sb.setLength(sb.length() - 2);
+        }
+        sb.append("])");
+        return sb.toString();
+    }
 }
diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageDecoder.java b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageDecoder.java
index 87bea65a719..427fa4d3031 100644
--- a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageDecoder.java
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageDecoder.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 
 import java.util.List;
 
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyConstants.*;
+
 /**
  * Decodes an HAProxy proxy protocol header
  *
@@ -49,32 +51,6 @@ public class HAProxyMessageDecoder extends ByteToMessageDecoder {
      */
     private static final int V2_MAX_TLV = 65535 - 216;
 
-    /**
-     * Binary header prefix
-     */
-    private static final byte[] BINARY_PREFIX = {
-            (byte) 0x0D,
-            (byte) 0x0A,
-            (byte) 0x0D,
-            (byte) 0x0A,
-            (byte) 0x00,
-            (byte) 0x0D,
-            (byte) 0x0A,
-            (byte) 0x51,
-            (byte) 0x55,
-            (byte) 0x49,
-            (byte) 0x54,
-            (byte) 0x0A
-    };
-
-    private static final byte[] TEXT_PREFIX = {
-            (byte) 'P',
-            (byte) 'R',
-            (byte) 'O',
-            (byte) 'X',
-            (byte) 'Y',
-    };
-
     /**
      * Binary header prefix length
      */
diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageEncoder.java b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageEncoder.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ef36480073b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyMessageEncoder.java
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy;
+
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandler.Sharable;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.MessageToByteEncoder;
+import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
+import io.netty.util.NetUtil;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyConstants.*;
+
+/**
+ * Encodes an HAProxy proxy protocol message
+ *
+ * @see <a href="http://www.haproxy.org/download/1.8/doc/proxy-protocol.txt">Proxy Protocol Specification</a>
+ */
+@Sharable
+public final class HAProxyMessageEncoder extends MessageToByteEncoder<HAProxyMessage> {
+
+    private static final int V2_VERSION_BITMASK = 0x02 << 4;
+
+    // Length for source/destination addresses for the UNIX family must be 108 bytes each.
+    static final int UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH = 108;
+    static final int TOTAL_UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH = UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH * 2;
+
+    public static final HAProxyMessageEncoder INSTANCE = new HAProxyMessageEncoder();
+
+    private HAProxyMessageEncoder() {
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected void encode(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, HAProxyMessage msg, ByteBuf out) throws Exception {
+        switch (msg.protocolVersion()) {
+            case V1:
+                encodeV1(msg, out);
+                break;
+            case V2:
+                encodeV2(msg, out);
+                break;
+            default:
+                throw new HAProxyProtocolException("Unsupported version: " + msg.protocolVersion());
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void encodeV1(HAProxyMessage msg, ByteBuf out) {
+        out.writeBytes(TEXT_PREFIX);
+        out.writeByte((byte) ' ');
+        out.writeCharSequence(msg.proxiedProtocol().name(), CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        out.writeByte((byte) ' ');
+        out.writeCharSequence(msg.sourceAddress(), CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        out.writeByte((byte) ' ');
+        out.writeCharSequence(msg.destinationAddress(), CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        out.writeByte((byte) ' ');
+        out.writeCharSequence(String.valueOf(msg.sourcePort()), CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        out.writeByte((byte) ' ');
+        out.writeCharSequence(String.valueOf(msg.destinationPort()), CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        out.writeByte((byte) '\r');
+        out.writeByte((byte) '\n');
+    }
+
+    private static void encodeV2(HAProxyMessage msg, ByteBuf out) {
+        out.writeBytes(BINARY_PREFIX);
+        out.writeByte(V2_VERSION_BITMASK | msg.command().byteValue());
+        out.writeByte(msg.proxiedProtocol().byteValue());
+
+        switch (msg.proxiedProtocol().addressFamily()) {
+            case AF_IPv4:
+            case AF_IPv6:
+                byte[] srcAddrBytes = NetUtil.createByteArrayFromIpAddressString(msg.sourceAddress());
+                byte[] dstAddrBytes = NetUtil.createByteArrayFromIpAddressString(msg.destinationAddress());
+                // srcAddrLen + dstAddrLen + 4 (srcPort + dstPort) + numTlvBytes
+                out.writeShort(srcAddrBytes.length + dstAddrBytes.length + 4 + msg.tlvNumBytes());
+                out.writeBytes(srcAddrBytes);
+                out.writeBytes(dstAddrBytes);
+                out.writeShort(msg.sourcePort());
+                out.writeShort(msg.destinationPort());
+                encodeTlvs(msg.tlvs(), out);
+                break;
+            case AF_UNIX:
+                out.writeShort(TOTAL_UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH + msg.tlvNumBytes());
+                int srcAddrBytesWritten = out.writeCharSequence(msg.sourceAddress(), CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+                out.writeZero(UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH - srcAddrBytesWritten);
+                int dstAddrBytesWritten = out.writeCharSequence(msg.destinationAddress(), CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+                out.writeZero(UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH - dstAddrBytesWritten);
+                encodeTlvs(msg.tlvs(), out);
+                break;
+            case AF_UNSPEC:
+                out.writeShort(0);
+                break;
+            default:
+                throw new HAProxyProtocolException("unexpected addrFamily");
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void encodeTlv(HAProxyTLV haProxyTLV, ByteBuf out) {
+        if (haProxyTLV instanceof HAProxySSLTLV) {
+            HAProxySSLTLV ssltlv = (HAProxySSLTLV) haProxyTLV;
+            out.writeByte(haProxyTLV.typeByteValue());
+            out.writeShort(ssltlv.contentNumBytes());
+            out.writeByte(ssltlv.client());
+            out.writeInt(ssltlv.verify());
+            encodeTlvs(ssltlv.encapsulatedTLVs(), out);
+        } else {
+            out.writeByte(haProxyTLV.typeByteValue());
+            ByteBuf value = haProxyTLV.content();
+            int readableBytes = value.readableBytes();
+            out.writeShort(readableBytes);
+            out.writeBytes(value.readSlice(readableBytes));
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static void encodeTlvs(List<HAProxyTLV> haProxyTLVs, ByteBuf out) {
+        for (int i = 0; i < haProxyTLVs.size(); i++) {
+            encodeTlv(haProxyTLVs.get(i), out);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxySSLTLV.java b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxySSLTLV.java
index 5d3dc103676..36166b2a198 100644
--- a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxySSLTLV.java
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxySSLTLV.java
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 package io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy;
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
+import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
+import io.netty.util.internal.StringUtil;
 
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -35,7 +37,19 @@ public final class HAProxySSLTLV extends HAProxyTLV {
      * Creates a new HAProxySSLTLV
      *
      * @param verify the verification result as defined in the specification for the pp2_tlv_ssl struct (see
-     * http://www.haproxy.org/download/1.5/doc/proxy-protocol.txt)
+     * http://www.haproxy.org/download/1.8/doc/proxy-protocol.txt)
+     * @param clientBitField the bitfield with client information
+     * @param tlvs the encapsulated {@link HAProxyTLV}s
+     */
+    public HAProxySSLTLV(final int verify, final byte clientBitField, final List<HAProxyTLV> tlvs) {
+        this(verify, clientBitField, tlvs, Unpooled.EMPTY_BUFFER);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new HAProxySSLTLV
+     *
+     * @param verify the verification result as defined in the specification for the pp2_tlv_ssl struct (see
+     * http://www.haproxy.org/download/1.8/doc/proxy-protocol.txt)
      * @param clientBitField the bitfield with client information
      * @param tlvs the encapsulated {@link HAProxyTLV}s
      * @param rawContent the raw TLV content
@@ -69,6 +83,13 @@ public boolean isPP2ClientCertSess() {
         return (clientBitField & 0x4) != 0;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Returns the client bit field
+     */
+    public byte client() {
+        return clientBitField;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Returns the verification result
      */
@@ -83,4 +104,22 @@ public List<HAProxyTLV> encapsulatedTLVs() {
         return tlvs;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    int contentNumBytes() {
+        int tlvNumBytes = 0;
+        for (int i = 0; i < tlvs.size(); i++) {
+            tlvNumBytes += tlvs.get(i).totalNumBytes();
+        }
+        return 5 + tlvNumBytes; // clientBit(1) + verify(4) + tlvs
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return StringUtil.simpleClassName(this) +
+               "(type: " + type() +
+               ", typeByteValue: " + typeByteValue() +
+               ", client: " + client() +
+               ", verify: " + verify() +
+               ", numEncapsulatedTlvs: " + tlvs.size() + ')';
+    }
 }
diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyTLV.java b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyTLV.java
index 38d79a0ebfe..a8075be11b2 100644
--- a/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyTLV.java
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyTLV.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
 import io.netty.buffer.DefaultByteBufHolder;
+import io.netty.util.internal.StringUtil;
 
 import static io.netty.util.internal.ObjectUtil.*;
 
@@ -32,6 +33,18 @@ public class HAProxyTLV extends DefaultByteBufHolder {
     private final Type type;
     private final byte typeByteValue;
 
+    /**
+     * The size of this tlv in bytes.
+     * @return the number of bytes.
+     */
+    int totalNumBytes() {
+        return 3 + contentNumBytes(); // type(1) + length(2) + content
+    }
+
+    int contentNumBytes() {
+        return content().readableBytes();
+    }
+
     /**
      * The registered types a TLV can have regarding the PROXY protocol 1.5 spec
      */
@@ -56,7 +69,7 @@ public enum Type {
          *
          * @return the {@link Type} of a TLV
          */
-        public static Type typeForByteValue(final byte byteValue) {
+        public static Type typeForByteValue(byte byteValue) {
             switch (byteValue) {
             case 0x01:
                 return PP2_TYPE_ALPN;
@@ -74,6 +87,52 @@ public static Type typeForByteValue(final byte byteValue) {
                 return OTHER;
             }
         }
+
+        /**
+         * Returns the byte value for the {@link Type} as defined in the PROXY protocol 1.5 spec.
+         *
+         * @param type the {@link Type}
+         *
+         * @return the byte value of the {@link Type}.
+         */
+        public static byte byteValueForType(Type type) {
+            switch (type) {
+            case PP2_TYPE_ALPN:
+                return 0x01;
+            case PP2_TYPE_AUTHORITY:
+                return 0x02;
+            case PP2_TYPE_SSL:
+                return 0x20;
+            case PP2_TYPE_SSL_VERSION:
+                return 0x21;
+            case PP2_TYPE_SSL_CN:
+                return 0x22;
+            case PP2_TYPE_NETNS:
+                return 0x30;
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("unknown type: " + type);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new HAProxyTLV
+     *
+     * @param typeByteValue the byteValue of the TLV. This is especially important if non-standard TLVs are used
+     * @param content the raw content of the TLV
+     */
+    public HAProxyTLV(byte typeByteValue, ByteBuf content) {
+        this(Type.typeForByteValue(typeByteValue), typeByteValue, content);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new HAProxyTLV
+     *
+     * @param type the {@link Type} of the TLV
+     * @param content the raw content of the TLV
+     */
+    public HAProxyTLV(Type type, ByteBuf content) {
+        this(type, Type.byteValueForType(type), content);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -146,4 +205,12 @@ public HAProxyTLV touch(Object hint) {
         super.touch(hint);
         return this;
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public String toString() {
+        return StringUtil.simpleClassName(this) +
+               "(type: " + type() +
+               ", typeByteValue: " + typeByteValue() +
+               ", content: " + contentToString() + ')';
+    }
 }
diff --git a/example/pom.xml b/example/pom.xml
index bb3bb3a57be..07d7bca4d37 100644
--- a/example/pom.xml
+++ b/example/pom.xml
@@ -103,6 +103,11 @@
       <artifactId>netty-codec-mqtt</artifactId>
       <version>${project.version}</version>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>${project.groupId}</groupId>
+      <artifactId>netty-codec-haproxy</artifactId>
+      <version>${project.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
 
     <dependency>
       <groupId>com.google.protobuf</groupId>
diff --git a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyClient.java b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyClient.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1da402a5b21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyClient.java
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.netty.example.haproxy;
+
+import io.netty.bootstrap.Bootstrap;
+import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
+import io.netty.channel.Channel;
+import io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.nio.NioEventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioSocketChannel;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyCommand;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyMessage;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyProtocolVersion;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyProxiedProtocol;
+import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
+
+import static io.netty.example.haproxy.HAProxyServer.*;
+
+public final class HAProxyClient {
+
+    private static final String HOST = System.getProperty("host", "127.0.0.1");
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+        EventLoopGroup group = new NioEventLoopGroup();
+        try {
+            Bootstrap b = new Bootstrap();
+            b.group(group)
+             .channel(NioSocketChannel.class)
+             .handler(new HAProxyHandler());
+
+            // Start the connection attempt.
+            Channel ch = b.connect(HOST, PORT).sync().channel();
+
+            HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                    HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP4,
+                    "127.0.0.1", "127.0.0.2", 8000, 9000);
+
+            ch.writeAndFlush(message).sync();
+            ch.writeAndFlush(Unpooled.copiedBuffer("Hello World!", CharsetUtil.US_ASCII)).sync();
+            ch.writeAndFlush(Unpooled.copiedBuffer("Bye now!", CharsetUtil.US_ASCII)).sync();
+            ch.close().sync();
+        } finally {
+            group.shutdownGracefully();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyHandler.java b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyHandler.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..fa44334d405
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyHandler.java
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.netty.example.haproxy;
+
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelFuture;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelFutureListener;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelOutboundHandlerAdapter;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelPromise;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyMessage;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyMessageEncoder;
+
+public class HAProxyHandler extends ChannelOutboundHandlerAdapter {
+
+    @Override
+    public void handlerAdded(ChannelHandlerContext ctx) throws Exception {
+        ctx.pipeline().addBefore(ctx.name(), null, HAProxyMessageEncoder.INSTANCE);
+        super.handlerAdded(ctx);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void write(final ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, ChannelPromise promise) throws Exception {
+        ChannelFuture future = ctx.write(msg, promise);
+        if (msg instanceof HAProxyMessage) {
+            future.addListener(new ChannelFutureListener() {
+                @Override
+                public void operationComplete(ChannelFuture future) throws Exception {
+                    if (future.isSuccess()) {
+                        ctx.pipeline().remove(HAProxyMessageEncoder.INSTANCE);
+                        ctx.pipeline().remove(HAProxyHandler.this);
+                    } else {
+                        ctx.close();
+                    }
+                }
+            });
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyServer.java b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyServer.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ab50288abff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/src/main/java/io/netty/example/haproxy/HAProxyServer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.netty.example.haproxy;
+
+import io.netty.bootstrap.ServerBootstrap;
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufUtil;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelInitializer;
+import io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.SimpleChannelInboundHandler;
+import io.netty.channel.nio.NioEventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.socket.SocketChannel;
+import io.netty.channel.socket.nio.NioServerSocketChannel;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyMessage;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyMessageDecoder;
+import io.netty.handler.logging.LogLevel;
+import io.netty.handler.logging.LoggingHandler;
+
+public final class HAProxyServer {
+
+    static final int PORT = Integer.parseInt(System.getProperty("port", "8080"));
+
+    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
+        EventLoopGroup bossGroup = new NioEventLoopGroup(1);
+        EventLoopGroup workerGroup = new NioEventLoopGroup();
+        try {
+            ServerBootstrap b = new ServerBootstrap();
+            b.group(bossGroup, workerGroup)
+             .channel(NioServerSocketChannel.class)
+             .handler(new LoggingHandler(LogLevel.INFO))
+             .childHandler(new HAProxyServerInitializer());
+            b.bind(PORT).sync().channel().closeFuture().sync();
+        } finally {
+            bossGroup.shutdownGracefully();
+            workerGroup.shutdownGracefully();
+        }
+    }
+
+    static class HAProxyServerInitializer extends ChannelInitializer<SocketChannel> {
+        @Override
+        public void initChannel(SocketChannel ch) throws Exception {
+            ch.pipeline().addLast(
+                    new LoggingHandler(LogLevel.DEBUG),
+                    new HAProxyMessageDecoder(),
+                    new SimpleChannelInboundHandler() {
+                        @Override
+                        protected void channelRead0(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg) throws Exception {
+                            if (msg instanceof HAProxyMessage) {
+                                System.out.println("proxy message: " + msg);
+                            } else if (msg instanceof ByteBuf) {
+                                System.out.println("bytebuf message: " + ByteBufUtil.prettyHexDump((ByteBuf) msg));
+                            }
+                        }
+                    });
+        }
+    }
+}

diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyIntegrationTest.java b/codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyIntegrationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8af8f45493e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HAProxyIntegrationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy;
+
+import io.netty.bootstrap.Bootstrap;
+import io.netty.bootstrap.ServerBootstrap;
+import io.netty.channel.Channel;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelInitializer;
+import io.netty.channel.DefaultEventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.SimpleChannelInboundHandler;
+import io.netty.channel.local.LocalAddress;
+import io.netty.channel.local.LocalChannel;
+import io.netty.channel.local.LocalServerChannel;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+public class HAProxyIntegrationTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testBasicCase() throws Exception {
+        final CountDownLatch latch = new CountDownLatch(1);
+        final AtomicReference<HAProxyMessage> msgHolder = new AtomicReference<HAProxyMessage>();
+        LocalAddress localAddress = new LocalAddress("HAProxyIntegrationTest");
+
+        EventLoopGroup group = new DefaultEventLoopGroup();
+        ServerBootstrap sb = new ServerBootstrap();
+        sb.channel(LocalServerChannel.class)
+          .group(group)
+          .childHandler(new ChannelInitializer() {
+              @Override
+              protected void initChannel(Channel ch) throws Exception {
+                  ch.pipeline().addLast(new HAProxyMessageDecoder());
+                  ch.pipeline().addLast(new SimpleChannelInboundHandler<HAProxyMessage>() {
+                      @Override
+                      protected void channelRead0(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, HAProxyMessage msg) throws Exception {
+                          msgHolder.set(msg.retain());
+                          latch.countDown();
+                      }
+                  });
+              }
+          });
+        Channel serverChannel = sb.bind(localAddress).sync().channel();
+
+        Bootstrap b = new Bootstrap();
+        Channel clientChannel = b.channel(LocalChannel.class)
+                                 .handler(HAProxyMessageEncoder.INSTANCE)
+                                 .group(group)
+                                 .connect(localAddress).sync().channel();
+
+        try {
+            HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                    HAProxyProtocolVersion.V1, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP4,
+                    "192.168.0.1", "192.168.0.11", 56324, 443);
+            clientChannel.writeAndFlush(message).sync();
+
+            assertTrue(latch.await(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
+            HAProxyMessage readMessage = msgHolder.get();
+
+            assertEquals(message.protocolVersion(), readMessage.protocolVersion());
+            assertEquals(message.command(), readMessage.command());
+            assertEquals(message.proxiedProtocol(), readMessage.proxiedProtocol());
+            assertEquals(message.sourceAddress(), readMessage.sourceAddress());
+            assertEquals(message.destinationAddress(), readMessage.destinationAddress());
+            assertEquals(message.sourcePort(), readMessage.sourcePort());
+            assertEquals(message.destinationPort(), readMessage.destinationPort());
+
+            readMessage.release();
+        } finally {
+            clientChannel.close().sync();
+            serverChannel.close().sync();
+            group.shutdownGracefully().sync();
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HaProxyMessageEncoderTest.java b/codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HaProxyMessageEncoderTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..09c89ab0544
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codec-haproxy/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/haproxy/HaProxyMessageEncoderTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,404 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy;
+
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBuf;
+import io.netty.buffer.ByteBufUtil;
+import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
+import io.netty.channel.embedded.EmbeddedChannel;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyTLV.Type;
+import io.netty.util.ByteProcessor;
+import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyConstants.*;
+import static io.netty.handler.codec.haproxy.HAProxyMessageEncoder.*;
+import static org.junit.Assert.*;
+
+public class HaProxyMessageEncoderTest {
+
+    private static final int V2_HEADER_BYTES_LENGTH = 16;
+    private static final int IPv4_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH = 12;
+    private static final int IPv6_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH = 36;
+
+    @Test
+    public void testIPV4EncodeProxyV1() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V1, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP4,
+                "192.168.0.1", "192.168.0.11", 56324, 443);
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        assertEquals("PROXY TCP4 192.168.0.1 192.168.0.11 56324 443\r\n",
+                     byteBuf.toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII));
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testIPV6EncodeProxyV1() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V1, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP6,
+                "2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334", "1050:0:0:0:5:600:300c:326b", 56324, 443);
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        assertEquals("PROXY TCP6 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 1050:0:0:0:5:600:300c:326b 56324 443\r\n",
+                     byteBuf.toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII));
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testIPv4EncodeProxyV2() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP4,
+                "192.168.0.1", "192.168.0.11", 56324, 443);
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        // header
+        byte[] headerBytes = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(byteBuf, 0, 12);
+        assertArrayEquals(BINARY_PREFIX, headerBytes);
+
+        // command
+        byte commandByte = byteBuf.getByte(12);
+        assertEquals(0x02, (commandByte & 0xf0) >> 4);
+        assertEquals(0x01, commandByte & 0x0f);
+
+        // transport protocol, address family
+        byte transportByte = byteBuf.getByte(13);
+        assertEquals(0x01, (transportByte & 0xf0) >> 4);
+        assertEquals(0x01, transportByte & 0x0f);
+
+        // source address length
+        int sourceAddrLength = byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(14);
+        assertEquals(12, sourceAddrLength);
+
+        // source address
+        byte[] sourceAddr = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(byteBuf, 16, 4);
+        assertArrayEquals(new byte[] { (byte) 0xc0, (byte) 0xa8, 0x00, 0x01 }, sourceAddr);
+
+        // destination address
+        byte[] destAddr = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(byteBuf, 20, 4);
+        assertArrayEquals(new byte[] { (byte) 0xc0, (byte) 0xa8, 0x00, 0x0b }, destAddr);
+
+        // source port
+        int sourcePort = byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(24);
+        assertEquals(56324, sourcePort);
+
+        // destination port
+        int destPort = byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(26);
+        assertEquals(443, destPort);
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testIPv6EncodeProxyV2() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP6,
+                "2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334", "1050:0:0:0:5:600:300c:326b", 56324, 443);
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        // header
+        byte[] headerBytes = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(byteBuf, 0, 12);
+        assertArrayEquals(BINARY_PREFIX, headerBytes);
+
+        // command
+        byte commandByte = byteBuf.getByte(12);
+        assertEquals(0x02, (commandByte & 0xf0) >> 4);
+        assertEquals(0x01, commandByte & 0x0f);
+
+        // transport protocol, address family
+        byte transportByte = byteBuf.getByte(13);
+        assertEquals(0x02, (transportByte & 0xf0) >> 4);
+        assertEquals(0x01, transportByte & 0x0f);
+
+        // source address length
+        int sourceAddrLength = byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(14);
+        assertEquals(IPv6_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH, sourceAddrLength);
+
+        // source address
+        byte[] sourceAddr = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(byteBuf, 16, 16);
+        assertArrayEquals(new byte[] {
+                (byte) 0x20, (byte) 0x01, 0x0d, (byte) 0xb8,
+                (byte) 0x85, (byte) 0xa3, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, (byte) 0x8a, 0x2e,
+                0x03, 0x70, 0x73, 0x34
+        }, sourceAddr);
+
+        // destination address
+        byte[] destAddr = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(byteBuf, 32, 16);
+        assertArrayEquals(new byte[] {
+                (byte) 0x10, (byte) 0x50, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
+                0x00, 0x05, 0x06, 0x00, 0x30, 0x0c, 0x32, 0x6b
+        }, destAddr);
+
+        // source port
+        int sourcePort = byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(48);
+        assertEquals(56324, sourcePort);
+
+        // destination port
+        int destPort = byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(50);
+        assertEquals(443, destPort);
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testUnixEncodeProxyV2() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.UNIX_STREAM,
+                "/var/run/src.sock", "/var/run/dst.sock", 0, 0);
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        // header
+        byte[] headerBytes = ByteBufUtil.getBytes(byteBuf, 0, 12);
+        assertArrayEquals(BINARY_PREFIX, headerBytes);
+
+        // command
+        byte commandByte = byteBuf.getByte(12);
+        assertEquals(0x02, (commandByte & 0xf0) >> 4);
+        assertEquals(0x01, commandByte & 0x0f);
+
+        // transport protocol, address family
+        byte transportByte = byteBuf.getByte(13);
+        assertEquals(0x03, (transportByte & 0xf0) >> 4);
+        assertEquals(0x01, transportByte & 0x0f);
+
+        // address length
+        int addrLength = byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(14);
+        assertEquals(TOTAL_UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH, addrLength);
+
+        // source address
+        int srcAddrEnd = byteBuf.forEachByte(16, 108, ByteProcessor.FIND_NUL);
+        assertEquals("/var/run/src.sock",
+                     byteBuf.slice(16, srcAddrEnd - 16).toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII));
+
+        // destination address
+        int dstAddrEnd = byteBuf.forEachByte(124, 108, ByteProcessor.FIND_NUL);
+        assertEquals("/var/run/dst.sock",
+                     byteBuf.slice(124, dstAddrEnd - 124).toString(CharsetUtil.US_ASCII));
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testTLVEncodeProxy() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        List<HAProxyTLV> tlvs = new ArrayList<HAProxyTLV>();
+
+        ByteBuf helloWorld = Unpooled.copiedBuffer("hello world", CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        HAProxyTLV alpnTlv = new HAProxyTLV(Type.PP2_TYPE_ALPN, (byte) 0x01, helloWorld.copy());
+        tlvs.add(alpnTlv);
+
+        ByteBuf arbitrary = Unpooled.copiedBuffer("an arbitrary string", CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        HAProxyTLV authorityTlv = new HAProxyTLV(Type.PP2_TYPE_AUTHORITY, (byte) 0x01, arbitrary.copy());
+        tlvs.add(authorityTlv);
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP4,
+                "192.168.0.1", "192.168.0.11", 56324, 443, tlvs);
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        // length
+        assertEquals(byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(14), byteBuf.readableBytes() - V2_HEADER_BYTES_LENGTH);
+
+        // skip to tlv section
+        ByteBuf tlv = byteBuf.skipBytes(V2_HEADER_BYTES_LENGTH + IPv4_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH);
+
+        // alpn tlv
+        assertEquals(alpnTlv.typeByteValue(), tlv.readByte());
+        short bufLength = tlv.readShort();
+        assertEquals(helloWorld.array().length, bufLength);
+        assertEquals(helloWorld, tlv.readBytes(bufLength));
+
+        // authority tlv
+        assertEquals(authorityTlv.typeByteValue(), tlv.readByte());
+        bufLength = tlv.readShort();
+        assertEquals(arbitrary.array().length, bufLength);
+        assertEquals(arbitrary, tlv.readBytes(bufLength));
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSslTLVEncodeProxy() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        List<HAProxyTLV> tlvs = new ArrayList<HAProxyTLV>();
+
+        ByteBuf helloWorld = Unpooled.copiedBuffer("hello world", CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        HAProxyTLV alpnTlv = new HAProxyTLV(Type.PP2_TYPE_ALPN, (byte) 0x01, helloWorld.copy());
+        tlvs.add(alpnTlv);
+
+        ByteBuf arbitrary = Unpooled.copiedBuffer("an arbitrary string", CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        HAProxyTLV authorityTlv = new HAProxyTLV(Type.PP2_TYPE_AUTHORITY, (byte) 0x01, arbitrary.copy());
+        tlvs.add(authorityTlv);
+
+        ByteBuf sslContent = Unpooled.copiedBuffer("some ssl content", CharsetUtil.US_ASCII);
+        HAProxySSLTLV haProxySSLTLV = new HAProxySSLTLV(1, (byte) 0x01, tlvs, sslContent.copy());
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP4,
+                "192.168.0.1", "192.168.0.11", 56324, 443,
+                Collections.<HAProxyTLV>singletonList(haProxySSLTLV));
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        assertEquals(byteBuf.getUnsignedShort(14), byteBuf.readableBytes() - V2_HEADER_BYTES_LENGTH);
+        ByteBuf tlv = byteBuf.skipBytes(V2_HEADER_BYTES_LENGTH + IPv4_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH);
+
+        // ssl tlv type
+        assertEquals(haProxySSLTLV.typeByteValue(), tlv.readByte());
+
+        // length
+        int bufLength = tlv.readUnsignedShort();
+        assertEquals(bufLength, tlv.readableBytes());
+
+        // client, verify
+        assertEquals(0x01, byteBuf.readByte());
+        assertEquals(1, byteBuf.readInt());
+
+        // alpn tlv
+        assertEquals(alpnTlv.typeByteValue(), tlv.readByte());
+        bufLength = tlv.readShort();
+        assertEquals(helloWorld.array().length, bufLength);
+        assertEquals(helloWorld, tlv.readBytes(bufLength));
+
+        // authority tlv
+        assertEquals(authorityTlv.typeByteValue(), tlv.readByte());
+        bufLength = tlv.readShort();
+        assertEquals(arbitrary.array().length, bufLength);
+        assertEquals(arbitrary, tlv.readBytes(bufLength));
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testEncodeLocalProxyV2() {
+        EmbeddedChannel ch = new EmbeddedChannel(INSTANCE);
+
+        HAProxyMessage message = new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.LOCAL, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.UNKNOWN,
+                null, null, 0, 0);
+        assertTrue(ch.writeOutbound(message));
+
+        ByteBuf byteBuf = ch.readOutbound();
+
+        // header
+        byte[] headerBytes = new byte[12];
+        byteBuf.readBytes(headerBytes);
+        assertArrayEquals(BINARY_PREFIX, headerBytes);
+
+        // command
+        byte commandByte = byteBuf.readByte();
+        assertEquals(0x02, (commandByte & 0xf0) >> 4);
+        assertEquals(0x00, commandByte & 0x0f);
+
+        // transport protocol, address family
+        byte transportByte = byteBuf.readByte();
+        assertEquals(0x00, transportByte);
+
+        // source address length
+        int sourceAddrLength = byteBuf.readUnsignedShort();
+        assertEquals(0, sourceAddrLength);
+
+        assertFalse(byteBuf.isReadable());
+
+        byteBuf.release();
+        assertFalse(ch.finish());
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testInvalidIpV4Address() {
+        String invalidIpv4Address = "192.168.0.1234";
+        new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V1, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP4,
+                invalidIpv4Address, "192.168.0.11", 56324, 443);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testInvalidIpV6Address() {
+        String invalidIpv6Address = "2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:73345";
+        new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V1, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.TCP6,
+                invalidIpv6Address, "1050:0:0:0:5:600:300c:326b", 56324, 443);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testInvalidUnixAddress() {
+        String invalidUnixAddress = new String(new byte[UNIX_ADDRESS_BYTES_LENGTH + 1]);
+        new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.UNIX_STREAM,
+                invalidUnixAddress, "/var/run/dst.sock", 0, 0);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = NullPointerException.class)
+    public void testNullUnixAddress() {
+        new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.UNIX_STREAM,
+                null, null, 0, 0);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testLongUnixAddress() {
+        String longUnixAddress = new String(new char[109]).replace("\0", "a");
+        new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.UNIX_STREAM,
+                "source", longUnixAddress, 0, 0);
+    }
+
+    @Test(expected = IllegalArgumentException.class)
+    public void testInvalidUnixPort() {
+        new HAProxyMessage(
+                HAProxyProtocolVersion.V2, HAProxyCommand.PROXY, HAProxyProxiedProtocol.UNIX_STREAM,
+                "/var/run/src.sock", "/var/run/dst.sock", 80, 443);
+    }
+}
