diff --git a/docs/reference/glib/glib-sections.txt b/docs/reference/glib/glib-sections.txt
index 1717ba37d..4510c0ebb 100644
--- a/docs/reference/glib/glib-sections.txt
+++ b/docs/reference/glib/glib-sections.txt
@@ -3497,6 +3497,7 @@ g_arc_box_get_size
 <FILE>refstring</FILE>
 g_ref_string_new
 g_ref_string_new_intern
+g_ref_string_new_len
 g_ref_string_acquire
 g_ref_string_release
 g_ref_string_length
diff --git a/glib/grefstring.c b/glib/grefstring.c
index 91fe8b5f8..f3ed4df72 100644
--- a/glib/grefstring.c
+++ b/glib/grefstring.c
@@ -130,6 +130,39 @@ g_ref_string_new (const char *str)
   return res;
 }
 
+/**
+ * g_ref_string_new_len:
+ * @str: (not nullable): a string
+ * @len: length of @str to use, or -1 if @str is nul-terminated
+ *
+ * Creates a new reference counted string and copies the contents of @str
+ * into it, up to @len bytes.
+ *
+ * Since this function does not stop at nul bytes, it is the caller's
+ * responsibility to ensure that @str has at least @len addressable bytes.
+ *
+ * Returns: (transfer full) (not nullable): the newly created reference counted string
+ *
+ * Since: 2.58
+ */
+char *
+g_ref_string_new_len (const char *str, gssize len)
+{
+  char *res;
+
+  g_return_val_if_fail (str != NULL, NULL);
+
+  if (len < 0)
+    return g_ref_string_new (str);
+
+  /* allocate then copy as str[len] may not be readable */
+  res = (char *) g_atomic_rc_box_alloc ((gsize) len + 1);
+  memcpy (res, str, len);
+  res[len] = '\0';
+
+  return res;
+}
+
 /* interned_str_equal: variant of g_str_equal() that compares
  * pointers as well as contents; this avoids running strcmp()
  * on arbitrarily long strings, as it's more likely to have
diff --git a/glib/grefstring.h b/glib/grefstring.h
index 2afe23a73..65b391ffa 100644
--- a/glib/grefstring.h
+++ b/glib/grefstring.h
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS
 GLIB_AVAILABLE_IN_2_58
 char *  g_ref_string_new        (const char *str);
 GLIB_AVAILABLE_IN_2_58
+char *  g_ref_string_new_len    (const char *str,
+                                 gssize      len);
+GLIB_AVAILABLE_IN_2_58
 char *  g_ref_string_new_intern (const char *str);
 
 GLIB_AVAILABLE_IN_2_58
diff --git a/glib/tests/refstring.c b/glib/tests/refstring.c
index a4d8f1a8d..41ab0c05c 100644
--- a/glib/tests/refstring.c
+++ b/glib/tests/refstring.c
@@ -36,6 +36,42 @@ test_refstring_base (void)
   g_ref_string_release (s);
 }
 
+/* test_refstring_length: Test the _len variant */
+static void
+test_refstring_length (void)
+{
+  char buf[] = {'h', 'e', 'l', 'l', 'o'}; /* no NUL */
+  char *s = g_ref_string_new_len (buf, 5);
+
+  g_assert_cmpstr (s, ==, "hello");
+  g_assert_cmpint (strlen (s), ==, strlen ("hello"));
+  g_assert_cmpuint (g_ref_string_length (s), ==, strlen ("hello"));
+  g_ref_string_release (s);
+}
+
+/* test_refstring_length: Test the _len variant with no size set */
+static void
+test_refstring_length_auto (void)
+{
+  char *s = g_ref_string_new_len ("hello", -1);
+  g_assert_cmpstr (s, ==, "hello");
+  g_assert_cmpuint (g_ref_string_length (s), ==, strlen ("hello"));
+  g_ref_string_release (s);
+}
+
+/* test_refstring_length_nuls: Test the _len variant */
+static void
+test_refstring_length_nuls (void)
+{
+  char buf[] = {'h', 'e', '\0', 'l', 'o'}; /* no NUL */
+  char *s = g_ref_string_new_len (buf, 5);
+
+  g_assert_cmpstr (s, ==, "he");
+  g_assert_cmpint (memcmp (s, "he\0lo", 5), ==, 0);
+  g_assert_cmpuint (g_ref_string_length (s), ==, 5);
+  g_ref_string_release (s);
+}
+
 /* test_refstring_intern: Test the interning API of GRefString */
 static void
 test_refstring_intern (void)
@@ -76,6 +112,9 @@ main (int   argc,
   g_test_init (&argc, &argv, NULL);
 
   g_test_add_func ("/refstring/base", test_refstring_base);
+  g_test_add_func ("/refstring/length", test_refstring_length);
+  g_test_add_func ("/refstring/length-auto", test_refstring_length_auto);
+  g_test_add_func ("/refstring/length-nuls", test_refstring_length_nuls);
   g_test_add_func ("/refstring/intern", test_refstring_intern);
 
   return g_test_run ();