diff --git a/Examples/test-suite/li_std_wstring.i b/Examples/test-suite/li_std_wstring.i
index 3c2d6f183..fe1166be3 100644
--- a/Examples/test-suite/li_std_wstring.i
+++ b/Examples/test-suite/li_std_wstring.i
@@ -78,6 +78,10 @@ std::wstring& test_reference_out() {
    return x;
 }
 
+bool test_equal_abc(const std::wstring &s) {
+  return L"abc" == s;
+}
+
 #if defined(_MSC_VER)
   #pragma warning(disable: 4290) // C++ exception specification ignored except to indicate a function is not __declspec(nothrow)
 #endif
diff --git a/Examples/test-suite/ruby/li_std_wstring_runme.rb b/Examples/test-suite/ruby/li_std_wstring_runme.rb
index eafb81f70..4e32fced9 100644
--- a/Examples/test-suite/ruby/li_std_wstring_runme.rb
+++ b/Examples/test-suite/ruby/li_std_wstring_runme.rb
@@ -2,21 +2,36 @@
 require 'swig_assert'
 require 'li_std_wstring'
 
-x = "h"
-
-swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_value(x)", "x", binding)
-
-
 x = "abc"
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_wchar_overload(x)", "x", binding)
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_ccvalue(x)", "x", binding)
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_value(Li_std_wstring::Wstring.new(x))", "x", binding)
 
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_wchar_overload()", "nil", binding)
+
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_pointer(Li_std_wstring::Wstring.new(x))", "nil", binding)
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_const_pointer(Li_std_wstring::Wstring.new(x))", "nil", binding)
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_const_pointer(Li_std_wstring::Wstring.new(x))", "nil", binding)
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_reference(Li_std_wstring::Wstring.new(x))", "nil", binding)
+
+x = "y"
 swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_value(x)", "x", binding)
-
-x = "hello"
-
-swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_const_reference(x)", "x", binding)
-
 a = Li_std_wstring::A.new(x)
-
 swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_value(a)", "x", binding)
 
-swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_value(x)", "x", binding)
+x = "hello"
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_const_reference(x)", "x", binding)
+
+
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_pointer_out", "'x'", binding)
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_const_pointer_out", "'x'", binding)
+swig_assert_equal("Li_std_wstring.test_reference_out()", "'x'", binding)
+
+s = "abc"
+swig_assert("Li_std_wstring.test_equal_abc(s)", binding)
+
+begin
+  Li_std_wstring.test_throw
+rescue RuntimeError => e
+  swig_assert_equal("e.message", "'x'", binding)
+end
diff --git a/Lib/ruby/rubywstrings.swg b/Lib/ruby/rubywstrings.swg
index afdeb1277..043f213bc 100644
--- a/Lib/ruby/rubywstrings.swg
+++ b/Lib/ruby/rubywstrings.swg
@@ -8,11 +8,28 @@
 SWIGINTERN int
 SWIG_AsWCharPtrAndSize(VALUE obj, wchar_t **cptr, size_t *psize, int *alloc)
 {
-  VALUE tmp = rb_str_conv_enc(obj, rb_enc_get(obj),
-                                   rb_to_encoding(rb_str_new_cstr( SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING )) );
-  *alloc = SWIG_NEWOBJ;
 
-  return SWIG_AsCharPtrAndSize(tmp, (char**)cptr, psize, alloc);
+  if (TYPE(obj) == T_STRING) {
+    VALUE tmp = rb_str_conv_enc(obj, rb_enc_get(obj),
+                                rb_to_encoding(rb_str_new_cstr( SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING )) );
+    wchar_t* cstr = (wchar_t*) StringValuePtr(tmp);
+    size_t   size = RSTRING_LEN(tmp) / sizeof(wchar_t) + 1;
+
+    if( RSTRING_LEN(tmp) % sizeof(wchar_t) != 0 ) {
+        rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError,
+                 "The length of the byte sequence of converted string is not a multiplier of sizeof(wchar_t). Invalid byte sequence is given. Or invalid SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING is given when compiling this binding.");
+    }
+    if (cptr && alloc)  {
+      *alloc = SWIG_NEWOBJ;
+      *cptr = %new_array(size, wchar_t);
+      memmove(*cptr, cstr, RSTRING_LEN(tmp));
+    }
+    if(psize) *psize = size;
+
+    return SWIG_OK;
+  } else {
+    return SWIG_TypeError;
+  }
 }
 }
 
@@ -20,15 +37,19 @@ SWIG_AsWCharPtrAndSize(VALUE obj, wchar_t **cptr, size_t *psize, int *alloc)
 SWIGINTERNINLINE VALUE 
 SWIG_FromWCharPtrAndSize(const wchar_t * carray, size_t size)
 {
-  VALUE ret = SWIG_FromCharPtrAndSize( (const char*)carray, size);
-  rb_encoding* enc = rb_default_internal_encoding();
+  if (carray && size <= LONG_MAX) {
+    VALUE ret = rb_str_new( (const char*)carray, %numeric_cast(size*sizeof(wchar_t),long) );
+    rb_encoding* new_enc = rb_default_internal_encoding();
 
-  rb_enc_associate(ret, rb_to_encoding(rb_str_new_cstr( SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING )) );
+    rb_enc_associate(ret, rb_to_encoding(rb_str_new_cstr( SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING )) );
 
-  if( !enc ) {
-    enc = rb_to_encoding(rb_str_new_cstr( SWIG_RUBY_INTERNAL_ENCODING ));
+    if( !new_enc ) {
+      new_enc = rb_to_encoding(rb_str_new_cstr( SWIG_RUBY_INTERNAL_ENCODING ));
+    }
+    return rb_str_conv_enc(ret, rb_enc_get(ret), new_enc);
+  } else {
+    return Qnil;
   }
-  return rb_str_conv_enc(ret, rb_enc_get(ret), enc);
 }
 }
 
diff --git a/Lib/ruby/std_wstring.i b/Lib/ruby/std_wstring.i
index b99a71945..d41aa064b 100644
--- a/Lib/ruby/std_wstring.i
+++ b/Lib/ruby/std_wstring.i
@@ -15,9 +15,9 @@ extern "C" {
 #ifndef SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING
 
 #if WCHAR_MAX == 0x7fff || WCHAR_MAX == 0xffff
-#define SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING "UTF-16"
+#define SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING "UTF-16LE"
 #elif WCHAR_MAX == 0x7fffffff || WCHAR_MAX == 0xffffffff
-#define SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING "UTF-32"
+#define SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING "UTF-32LE"
 #else
 #error unsupported wchar_t size. SWIG_RUBY_WSTRING_ENCODING must be given.
 #endif