diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java
index b6e3ea69001..8c0ad71504f 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriTemplateHandler.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2016 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -16,10 +16,8 @@
 
 package org.springframework.web.util;
 
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.net.URI;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
-import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -127,10 +125,7 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandler extends AbstractUriTemplateHandler {
 			return builder.buildAndExpand(uriVariables).encode();
 		}
 		else {
-			Map<String, Object> encodedUriVars = new HashMap<>(uriVariables.size());
-			for (Map.Entry<String, ?> entry : uriVariables.entrySet()) {
-				encodedUriVars.put(entry.getKey(), applyStrictEncoding(entry.getValue()));
-			}
+			Map<String, ?> encodedUriVars = UriUtils.encodeUriVariables(uriVariables);
 			return builder.buildAndExpand(encodedUriVars);
 		}
 	}
@@ -140,25 +135,11 @@ public class DefaultUriTemplateHandler extends AbstractUriTemplateHandler {
 			return builder.buildAndExpand(uriVariables).encode();
 		}
 		else {
-			Object[] encodedUriVars = new Object[uriVariables.length];
-			for (int i = 0; i < uriVariables.length; i++) {
-				encodedUriVars[i] = applyStrictEncoding(uriVariables[i]);
-			}
+			Object[] encodedUriVars = UriUtils.encodeUriVariables(uriVariables);
 			return builder.buildAndExpand(encodedUriVars);
 		}
 	}
 
-	private String applyStrictEncoding(Object value) {
-		String stringValue = (value != null ? value.toString() : "");
-		try {
-			return UriUtils.encode(stringValue, "UTF-8");
-		}
-		catch (UnsupportedEncodingException ex) {
-			// Should never happen
-			throw new IllegalStateException("Failed to encode URI variable", ex);
-		}
-	}
-
 	private URI createUri(UriComponents uriComponents) {
 		try {
 			// Avoid further encoding (in the case of strictEncoding=true)
diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriUtils.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriUtils.java
index 7cb3b76f1e2..7c010f02912 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriUtils.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/UriUtils.java
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ package org.springframework.web.util;
 
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
@@ -165,6 +170,52 @@ public abstract class UriUtils {
 		return HierarchicalUriComponents.encodeUriComponent(source, encoding, type);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Encode characters outside the unreserved character set as defined in
+	 * <a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986#section-2">RFC 3986 Section 2</a>.
+	 * <p>This can be used to ensure the given String will not contain any
+	 * characters with reserved URI meaning regardless of URI component.
+	 * @param source the String to be encoded
+	 * @param charset the character encoding to encode to
+	 * @return the encoded String
+	 */
+	public static String encode(String source, Charset charset) {
+		HierarchicalUriComponents.Type type = HierarchicalUriComponents.Type.URI;
+		return HierarchicalUriComponents.encodeUriComponent(source, charset, type);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Apply {@link #encode(String, String)} to the values in the given URI
+	 * variables and return a new Map containing the encoded values.
+	 * @param uriVariables the URI variable values to be encoded
+	 * @return the encoded String
+	 * @since 5.0
+	 */
+	public static Map<String, String> encodeUriVariables(Map<String, ?> uriVariables) {
+		Map<String, String> result = new LinkedHashMap<>(uriVariables.size());
+		uriVariables.entrySet().stream().forEach(entry -> {
+			String stringValue = (entry.getValue() != null ? entry.getValue().toString() : "");
+			result.put(entry.getKey(), encode(stringValue, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+		});
+		return result;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Apply {@link #encode(String, String)} to the values in the given URI
+	 * variables and return a new array containing the encoded values.
+	 * @param uriVariables the URI variable values to be encoded
+	 * @return the encoded String
+	 * @since 5.0
+	 */
+	public static Object[] encodeUriVariables(Object... uriVariables) {
+		return Arrays.stream(uriVariables)
+				.map(value -> {
+					String stringValue = (value != null ? value.toString() : "");
+					return encode(stringValue, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+				})
+				.collect(Collectors.toList()).toArray();
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Decode the given encoded URI component.
 	 * <p>See {@link StringUtils#uriDecode(String, Charset) for the decoding rules.