diff --git a/Lib/_pyio.py b/Lib/_pyio.py
index 0b6493b..c355164 100644
--- a/Lib/_pyio.py
+++ b/Lib/_pyio.py
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 # Does io.IOBase finalizer log the exception if the close() method fails?
 # The exception is ignored silently by default in release build.
 _IOBASE_EMITS_UNRAISABLE = (hasattr(sys, "gettotalrefcount") or sys.flags.dev_mode)
+# Does open() check its 'errors' argument?
+_CHECK_ERRORS = _IOBASE_EMITS_UNRAISABLE
 
 
 def open(file, mode="r", buffering=-1, encoding=None, errors=None,
@@ -2022,6 +2024,8 @@
         else:
             if not isinstance(errors, str):
                 raise ValueError("invalid errors: %r" % errors)
+            if _CHECK_ERRORS:
+                codecs.lookup_error(errors)
 
         self._buffer = buffer
         self._decoded_chars = ''  # buffer for text returned from decoder
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_bytes.py b/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
index bbd45c7..b5eeb2b 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_bytes.py
@@ -12,12 +12,14 @@
 import functools
 import pickle
 import tempfile
+import textwrap
 import unittest
 
 import test.support
 import test.string_tests
 import test.list_tests
 from test.support import bigaddrspacetest, MAX_Py_ssize_t
+from test.support.script_helper import assert_python_failure
 
 
 if sys.flags.bytes_warning:
@@ -315,6 +317,62 @@
         # Default encoding is utf-8
         self.assertEqual(self.type2test(b'\xe2\x98\x83').decode(), '\u2603')
 
+    def test_check_encoding_errors(self):
+        # bpo-37388: bytes(str) and bytes.encode() must check encoding
+        # and errors arguments in dev mode
+        invalid = 'Boom, Shaka Laka, Boom!'
+        encodings = ('ascii', 'utf8', 'latin1')
+        code = textwrap.dedent(f'''
+            import sys
+            type2test = {self.type2test.__name__}
+            encodings = {encodings!r}
+
+            for data in ('', 'short string'):
+                try:
+                    type2test(data, encoding={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(21)
+
+                for encoding in encodings:
+                    try:
+                        type2test(data, encoding=encoding, errors={invalid!r})
+                    except LookupError:
+                        pass
+                    else:
+                        sys.exit(22)
+
+            for data in (b'', b'short string'):
+                data = type2test(data)
+                print(repr(data))
+                try:
+                    data.decode(encoding={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    sys.exit(10)
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(23)
+
+                try:
+                    data.decode(errors={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(24)
+
+                for encoding in encodings:
+                    try:
+                        data.decode(encoding=encoding, errors={invalid!r})
+                    except LookupError:
+                        pass
+                    else:
+                        sys.exit(25)
+
+            sys.exit(10)
+        ''')
+        proc = assert_python_failure('-X', 'dev', '-c', code)
+        self.assertEqual(proc.rc, 10, proc)
+
     def test_from_int(self):
         b = self.type2test(0)
         self.assertEqual(b, self.type2test())
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_io.py b/Lib/test/test_io.py
index fc474c9..1fe1cba 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_io.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_io.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@
 import signal
 import sys
 import sysconfig
+import textwrap
 import threading
 import time
 import unittest
@@ -37,7 +38,8 @@
 from collections import deque, UserList
 from itertools import cycle, count
 from test import support
-from test.support.script_helper import assert_python_ok, run_python_until_end
+from test.support.script_helper import (
+    assert_python_ok, assert_python_failure, run_python_until_end)
 from test.support import FakePath
 
 import codecs
@@ -4130,6 +4132,51 @@
         # there used to be a buffer overflow in the parser for rawmode
         self.assertRaises(ValueError, self.open, support.TESTFN, 'rwax+')
 
+    def test_check_encoding_errors(self):
+        # bpo-37388: open() and TextIOWrapper must check encoding and errors
+        # arguments in dev mode
+        mod = self.io.__name__
+        filename = __file__
+        invalid = 'Boom, Shaka Laka, Boom!'
+        code = textwrap.dedent(f'''
+            import sys
+            from {mod} import open, TextIOWrapper
+
+            try:
+                open({filename!r}, encoding={invalid!r})
+            except LookupError:
+                pass
+            else:
+                sys.exit(21)
+
+            try:
+                open({filename!r}, errors={invalid!r})
+            except LookupError:
+                pass
+            else:
+                sys.exit(22)
+
+            fp = open({filename!r}, "rb")
+            with fp:
+                try:
+                    TextIOWrapper(fp, encoding={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(23)
+
+                try:
+                    TextIOWrapper(fp, errors={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(24)
+
+            sys.exit(10)
+        ''')
+        proc = assert_python_failure('-X', 'dev', '-c', code)
+        self.assertEqual(proc.rc, 10, proc)
+
 
 class CMiscIOTest(MiscIOTest):
     io = io
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_unicode.py b/Lib/test/test_unicode.py
index 36b72e4..177d80d 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_unicode.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_unicode.py
@@ -11,9 +11,11 @@
 import operator
 import struct
 import sys
+import textwrap
 import unittest
 import warnings
 from test import support, string_tests
+from test.support.script_helper import assert_python_failure
 
 # Error handling (bad decoder return)
 def search_function(encoding):
@@ -2436,6 +2438,66 @@
         support.check_free_after_iterating(self, iter, str)
         support.check_free_after_iterating(self, reversed, str)
 
+    def test_check_encoding_errors(self):
+        # bpo-37388: str(bytes) and str.decode() must check encoding and errors
+        # arguments in dev mode
+        encodings = ('ascii', 'utf8', 'latin1')
+        invalid = 'Boom, Shaka Laka, Boom!'
+        code = textwrap.dedent(f'''
+            import sys
+            encodings = {encodings!r}
+
+            for data in (b'', b'short string'):
+                try:
+                    str(data, encoding={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(21)
+
+                try:
+                    str(data, errors={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(22)
+
+                for encoding in encodings:
+                    try:
+                        str(data, encoding, errors={invalid!r})
+                    except LookupError:
+                        pass
+                    else:
+                        sys.exit(22)
+
+            for data in ('', 'short string'):
+                try:
+                    data.encode(encoding={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(23)
+
+                try:
+                    data.encode(errors={invalid!r})
+                except LookupError:
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    sys.exit(24)
+
+                for encoding in encodings:
+                    try:
+                        data.encode(encoding, errors={invalid!r})
+                    except LookupError:
+                        pass
+                    else:
+                        sys.exit(24)
+
+            sys.exit(10)
+        ''')
+        proc = assert_python_failure('-X', 'dev', '-c', code)
+        self.assertEqual(proc.rc, 10, proc)
+
 
 class CAPITest(unittest.TestCase):