diff --git a/base62.py b/base62.py
index df45c41..5017c43 100644
--- a/base62.py
+++ b/base62.py
@@ -16,24 +16,18 @@ CHARSET_DEFAULT = "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
 CHARSET_INVERTED = "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
 
 
-def encode(n, minlen=1, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
+def encode(n, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
     """Encodes a given integer ``n``."""
 
     chs = []
     while n > 0:
-        r = n % BASE
-        n //= BASE
+        n, r = divmod(n, BASE)
+        chs.insert(0, charset[r])
 
-        chs.append(charset[r])
+    if not chs:
+        return "0"
 
-    if len(chs) > 0:
-        chs.reverse()
-    else:
-        chs.append("0")
-
-    s = "".join(chs)
-    s = charset[0] * max(minlen - len(s), 0) + s
-    return s
+    return "".join(chs)
 
 
 def encodebytes(barray, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
@@ -45,7 +39,27 @@ def encodebytes(barray, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
     """
 
     _check_type(barray, bytes)
-    return encode(int.from_bytes(barray, "big"), charset=charset)
+
+    # Count the number of leading zeros.
+    leading_zeros_count = 0
+    for i in range(len(barray)):
+        if barray[i] != 0:
+            break
+        leading_zeros_count += 1
+
+    # Encode the leading zeros as "0" followed by a character indicating the count.
+    # This pattern may occur several times if there are many leading zeros.
+    n, r = divmod(leading_zeros_count, len(charset) - 1)
+    zero_padding = f"0{charset[-1]}" * n
+    if r:
+        zero_padding += f"0{charset[r]}"
+
+    # Special case: the input is empty, or is entirely null bytes.
+    if leading_zeros_count == len(barray):
+        return zero_padding
+
+    value = encode(int.from_bytes(barray, "big"), charset=charset)
+    return zero_padding + value
 
 
 def decode(encoded, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
@@ -56,9 +70,6 @@ def decode(encoded, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
     """
     _check_type(encoded, str)
 
-    if encoded.startswith("0z"):
-        encoded = encoded[2:]
-
     l, i, v = len(encoded), 0, 0
     for x in encoded:
         v += _value(x, charset=charset) * (BASE ** (l - (i + 1)))
@@ -75,6 +86,11 @@ def decodebytes(encoded, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
     :rtype: bytes
     """
 
+    leading_null_bytes = b""
+    while encoded.startswith("0") and len(encoded) >= 2:
+        leading_null_bytes += b"\x00" * _value(encoded[1], charset)
+        encoded = encoded[2:]
+
     decoded = decode(encoded, charset=charset)
     buf = bytearray()
     while decoded > 0:
@@ -82,7 +98,7 @@ def decodebytes(encoded, charset=CHARSET_DEFAULT):
         decoded //= 256
     buf.reverse()
 
-    return bytes(buf)
+    return leading_null_bytes + bytes(buf)
 
 
 def _value(ch, charset):

diff --git a/tests/test_basic.py b/tests/test_basic.py
index 73f1d09..bade00f 100644
--- a/tests/test_basic.py
+++ b/tests/test_basic.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import base62
 
 
 bytes_int_pairs = [
-    (b"\x00", 0),
     (b"\x01", 1),
     (b"\x01\x01", 0x0101),
     (b"\xff\xff", 0xFFFF),
@@ -20,9 +19,6 @@ def test_const():
 
 def test_basic():
     assert base62.encode(0) == "0"
-    assert base62.encode(0, minlen=0) == "0"
-    assert base62.encode(0, minlen=1) == "0"
-    assert base62.encode(0, minlen=5) == "00000"
     assert base62.decode("0") == 0
     assert base62.decode("0000") == 0
     assert base62.decode("000001") == 1
@@ -30,19 +26,11 @@ def test_basic():
     assert base62.encode(34441886726) == "base62"
     assert base62.decode("base62") == 34441886726
 
-    # NOTE: For backward compatibility. When I first wrote this module in PHP,
-    # I used to use the `0z` prefix to denote a base62 encoded string (similar
-    # to `0x` for hexadecimal strings).
-    assert base62.decode("0zbase62") == 34441886726
-
 
 def test_basic_inverted():
     kwargs = {"charset": base62.CHARSET_INVERTED}
 
     assert base62.encode(0, **kwargs) == "0"
-    assert base62.encode(0, minlen=0, **kwargs) == "0"
-    assert base62.encode(0, minlen=1, **kwargs) == "0"
-    assert base62.encode(0, minlen=5, **kwargs) == "00000"
     assert base62.decode("0", **kwargs) == 0
     assert base62.decode("0000", **kwargs) == 0
     assert base62.decode("000001", **kwargs) == 1
@@ -50,11 +38,6 @@ def test_basic_inverted():
     assert base62.encode(10231951886, **kwargs) == "base62"
     assert base62.decode("base62", **kwargs) == 10231951886
 
-    # NOTE: For backward compatibility. When I first wrote this module in PHP,
-    # I used to use the `0z` prefix to denote a base62 encoded string (similar
-    # to `0x` for hexadecimal strings).
-    assert base62.decode("0zbase62", **kwargs) == 10231951886
-
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("b, i", bytes_int_pairs)
 def test_bytes_to_int(b, i):
@@ -77,7 +60,7 @@ def test_encodebytes_rtype():
     assert isinstance(encoded, str)
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("s", ["0", "1", "a", "z", "ykzvd7ga", "0z1234"])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("s", ["0", "1", "a", "z", "ykzvd7ga"])
 def test_decodebytes(s):
     assert int.from_bytes(base62.decodebytes(s), "big") == base62.decode(s)
 
@@ -113,3 +96,23 @@ def test_invalid_alphabet():
 def test_invalid_string():
     with pytest.raises(TypeError):
         base62.encodebytes({})
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "input_bytes, expected_encoded_text",
+    (
+        (b"", ""),
+        (b"\x00", "01"),
+        (b"\x00\x00", "02"),
+        (b"\x00\x01", "011"),
+        (b"\x00" * 61, "0z"),
+        (b"\x00" * 62, "0z01"),
+    ),
+)
+def test_leading_zeros(input_bytes, expected_encoded_text):
+    """Verify that leading null bytes are not lost."""
+
+    encoded_text = base62.encodebytes(input_bytes)
+    assert encoded_text == expected_encoded_text
+    output_bytes = base62.decodebytes(encoded_text)
+    assert output_bytes == input_bytes

Ignoring leading zero bytes
Hello,

first of all, thank you for this library. I am using it for encoding 16 byte blocks and I have noticed, that during encoding, leading bytes that are equal to `0x00` are ignored. This is due to conversion to integer, which the library internally does. I believe this is not a correct behavior, because without knowledge of the input bytes block length, you cannot reconstruct (decode) the original input from output. But for example in encryption (and many other areas), all bytes (incl. leading zero bytes) matter.

I'll give an example using base64, which does this correctly:
```
encoded = b64encode(b'\x00\x00\x01').decode()
print(encoded)
decoded = b64decode(encoded)
print(decoded)
```
This code yields:
```
AAAB
b'\x00\x00\x01'
```

Now your library:
```
encoded = base62.encodebytes(b'\x00\x00\x01')
print(encoded)
decoded = base62.decodebytes(encoded)
print(decoded)
```
Yields:
```
1
b'\x01'
```

As you can see, decoded output is not equal the input (it misses the two leading zero bytes).
tests/test_basic.py::test_leading_zeros[-] tests/test_basic.py::test_leading_zeros[\x00-01] tests/test_basic.py::test_leading_zeros[\x00\x00-02] tests/test_basic.py::test_leading_zeros[\x00\x01-011] tests/test_basic.py::test_leading_zeros[\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00-0z] tests/test_basic.py::test_leading_zeros[\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00-0z01]
tests/test_basic.py::test_const tests/test_basic.py::test_basic tests/test_basic.py::test_basic_inverted tests/test_basic.py::test_bytes_to_int[\x01-1] tests/test_basic.py::test_bytes_to_int[\x01\x01-257] tests/test_basic.py::test_bytes_to_int[\xff\xff-65535] tests/test_basic.py::test_bytes_to_int[\x01\x01\x01-65793] tests/test_basic.py::test_bytes_to_int[\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05\x06\x07\x08-72623859790382856] tests/test_basic.py::test_encodebytes[\x01-1] tests/test_basic.py::test_encodebytes[\x01\x01-257] tests/test_basic.py::test_encodebytes[\xff\xff-65535] tests/test_basic.py::test_encodebytes[\x01\x01\x01-65793] tests/test_basic.py::test_encodebytes[\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05\x06\x07\x08-72623859790382856] tests/test_basic.py::test_encodebytes_type tests/test_basic.py::test_encodebytes_rtype tests/test_basic.py::test_decodebytes[0] tests/test_basic.py::test_decodebytes[1] tests/test_basic.py::test_decodebytes[a] tests/test_basic.py::test_decodebytes[z] tests/test_basic.py::test_decodebytes[ykzvd7ga] tests/test_basic.py::test_decodebytes_type tests/test_basic.py::test_decodebytes_rtype tests/test_basic.py::test_roundtrip[] tests/test_basic.py::test_roundtrip[0] tests/test_basic.py::test_roundtrip[bytes tests/test_basic.py::test_roundtrip[\x01\x00\x80] tests/test_basic.py::test_invalid_alphabet tests/test_basic.py::test_invalid_string