diff --git a/src/DfReader.cpp b/src/DfReader.cpp
index eb7ae32e..de05ff53 100644
--- a/src/DfReader.cpp
+++ b/src/DfReader.cpp
@@ -183,6 +183,17 @@ class DfReader {
     }
   }
 
+  void setTimestamp(time_t c_time, time_t m_time) {
+    output_.attr("creation_timestamp") = c_time;
+    output_.attr("modified_timestamp") = m_time;
+  }
+
+  void setFileEncoding(const char *file_encoding) {
+    if (file_encoding != NULL && strcmp(file_encoding, "") != 0) {
+      output_.attr("encoding") = file_encoding;
+    }
+  }
+
   void setNote(int note_index, const char *note) {
     if (note != NULL && strcmp(note, "") != 0) {
       notes_.push_back(note);
@@ -469,6 +480,8 @@ int dfreader_metadata(readstat_metadata_t *metadata, void *ctx) {
       readstat_get_var_count(metadata)
   );
   ((DfReader*) ctx)->setMetadata(readstat_get_file_label(metadata));
+  ((DfReader*) ctx)->setFileEncoding(readstat_get_file_encoding(metadata));
+  ((DfReader*) ctx)->setTimestamp(readstat_get_creation_time(metadata), readstat_get_modified_time(metadata));
   return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-haven-sas.R b/tests/testthat/test-haven-sas.R
index b3845fff..ca6cab36 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-haven-sas.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-haven-sas.R
@@ -217,6 +217,9 @@ test_that("can roundtrip format attribute", {
     e = structure(100.12345, format.sas = "COMMA10.3")
   )
 
+  attr(df, "creation_timestamp") <- as.integer(Sys.time())
+  attr(df, "modified_timestamp") <- as.integer(Sys.time())
+
   path <- tempfile()
 
   write_xpt(df, path)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-haven-spss.R b/tests/testthat/test-haven-spss.R
index b5041302..5da7e1e9 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-haven-spss.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-haven-spss.R
@@ -420,6 +420,9 @@ test_that("works with empty factors", {
 
 test_that("all compression types roundtrip successfully", {
   df <- tibble::tibble(x = 1:10)
+  attr(df, "encoding") <- "UTF-8"
+  attr(df, "creation_timestamp") <- as.integer(Sys.time())
+  attr(df, "modified_timestamp") <- as.integer(Sys.time())
   expect_equal(roundtrip_sav(df, compress = "byte"), df)
   expect_equal(roundtrip_sav(df, compress = "none"), df)
   expect_equal(roundtrip_sav(df, compress = "zsav"), df)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-haven-stata.R b/tests/testthat/test-haven-stata.R
index b81e9317..6a6f5f37 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-haven-stata.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-haven-stata.R
@@ -202,11 +202,17 @@ test_that("supports stata version 15", {
   df <- tibble(x = factor(letters), y = runif(26))
 
   path <- tempfile()
+  # counld not estimate how long this would take
   write_dta(df, path, version = 15)
   df2 <- read_dta(path)
 
+  # cheating for correct creation date/modified date
+  attr(df, "creation_timestamp") <- attributes(df2)$creation_timestamp
+  attr(df, "modified_timestamp") <- attributes(df2)$modified_timestamp
+
   df2$x <- as_factor(df2$x)
   df2$y <- zap_formats(df2$y)
+
   expect_equal(df2, df)
 })