diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.cc
index 365b5646b66..ef6d46b944c 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.cc
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ Status ReadOptions::Validate() const {
         "ReadOptions: autogenerate_column_names cannot be true when column_names are "
         "provided");
   }
+  // Validating encoding == utf8 is not possible, because the input stream can be
+  // wrapped in a transcoder
   return Status::OK();
 }
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.h b/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.h
index 7723dcedc61..1450385022a 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/csv/options.h
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ namespace csv {
 // Silly workaround for https://github.com/michaeljones/breathe/issues/453
 constexpr char kDefaultEscapeChar = '\\';
 
+constexpr char kCsvDefaultEncoding[] = "utf8";
+
 struct ARROW_EXPORT ParseOptions {
   // Parsing options
 
@@ -163,6 +165,9 @@ struct ARROW_EXPORT ReadOptions {
   /// If false, column names will be read from the first CSV row after `skip_rows`.
   bool autogenerate_column_names = false;
 
+  /// Character encoding used. Only "utf8" is supported.
+  std::string encoding = kCsvDefaultEncoding;
+
   /// Create read options with default values
   static ReadOptions Defaults();
 
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.cc
index d4e0af7808c..c92baf713e2 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.cc
@@ -183,9 +183,19 @@ static inline Future<std::shared_ptr<csv::StreamingReader>> OpenReaderAsync(
   auto tracer = arrow::internal::tracing::GetTracer();
   auto span = tracer->StartSpan("arrow::dataset::CsvFileFormat::OpenReaderAsync");
 #endif
+  ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(
+      auto fragment_scan_options,
+      GetFragmentScanOptions<CsvFragmentScanOptions>(
+          kCsvTypeName, scan_options.get(), format.default_fragment_scan_options));
   ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(auto reader_options, GetReadOptions(format, scan_options));
-
   ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(auto input, source.OpenCompressed());
+  if (reader_options.encoding != csv::kCsvDefaultEncoding) {
+    if (fragment_scan_options->stream_transform_func) {
+      ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(input, fragment_scan_options->stream_transform_func(input));
+    } else {
+      return Status::Invalid("File encoding is not utf8, but no stream_transform_func has been provided");
+    }
+  }
   const auto& path = source.path();
   ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(
       input, io::BufferedInputStream::Create(reader_options.block_size,
@@ -289,8 +299,19 @@ Future<util::optional<int64_t>> CsvFileFormat::CountRows(
     return Future<util::optional<int64_t>>::MakeFinished(util::nullopt);
   }
   auto self = checked_pointer_cast<CsvFileFormat>(shared_from_this());
-  ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(auto input, file->source().OpenCompressed());
+  ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(
+      auto fragment_scan_options,
+      GetFragmentScanOptions<CsvFragmentScanOptions>(
+          kCsvTypeName, options.get(), self->default_fragment_scan_options));
   ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(auto read_options, GetReadOptions(*self, options));
+  ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(auto input, file->source().OpenCompressed());
+  if (read_options.encoding != csv::kCsvDefaultEncoding) {
+    if (fragment_scan_options->stream_transform_func) {
+      ARROW_ASSIGN_OR_RAISE(input, fragment_scan_options->stream_transform_func(input));
+    } else {
+      return Status::Invalid("File encoding is not utf8, but no stream_transform_func has been provided");
+    }
+  }
   return csv::CountRowsAsync(options->io_context, std::move(input),
                              ::arrow::internal::GetCpuThreadPool(), read_options,
                              self->parse_options)
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.h b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.h
index 83dbb88b85f..84bcf94abe3 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/dataset/file_csv.h
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ class ARROW_DS_EXPORT CsvFileFormat : public FileFormat {
 struct ARROW_DS_EXPORT CsvFragmentScanOptions : public FragmentScanOptions {
   std::string type_name() const override { return kCsvTypeName; }
 
+  using StreamWrapFunc = std::function<Result<std::shared_ptr<io::InputStream>>(
+      std::shared_ptr<io::InputStream>)>;
+
   /// CSV conversion options
   csv::ConvertOptions convert_options = csv::ConvertOptions::Defaults();
 
@@ -80,6 +83,13 @@ struct ARROW_DS_EXPORT CsvFragmentScanOptions : public FragmentScanOptions {
   ///
   /// Note that use_threads is always ignored.
   csv::ReadOptions read_options = csv::ReadOptions::Defaults();
+
+  /// Optional stream wrapping function
+  ///
+  /// If defined, all open dataset file fragments will be passed
+  /// through this function.  One possible use case is to transparently
+  /// transcode all input files from a given character set to utf8.
+  StreamWrapFunc stream_transform_func{};
 };
 
 class ARROW_DS_EXPORT CsvFileWriteOptions : public FileWriteOptions {
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.cc b/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.cc
index 73525feed38..c621d16427b 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.cc
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.cc
@@ -370,5 +370,15 @@ std::shared_ptr<::arrow::io::InputStream> MakeTransformInputStream(
   return std::make_shared<TransformInputStream>(std::move(wrapped), std::move(transform));
 }
 
+std::shared_ptr<StreamWrapFunc> MakeStreamTransformFunc(TransformInputStreamVTable vtable,
+                                                        PyObject* handler) {
+  TransformInputStream::TransformFunc transform(
+      TransformFunctionWrapper{std::move(vtable.transform), handler});
+  StreamWrapFunc func = [transform](std::shared_ptr<::arrow::io::InputStream> wrapped) {
+    return std::make_shared<TransformInputStream>(wrapped, transform);
+  };
+  return std::make_shared<StreamWrapFunc>(func);
+}
+
 }  // namespace py
 }  // namespace arrow
diff --git a/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.h b/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.h
index a38d0ca332c..f6c70ff50a4 100644
--- a/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.h
+++ b/cpp/src/arrow/python/io.h
@@ -112,5 +112,10 @@ std::shared_ptr<::arrow::io::InputStream> MakeTransformInputStream(
     std::shared_ptr<::arrow::io::InputStream> wrapped, TransformInputStreamVTable vtable,
     PyObject* arg);
 
+using StreamWrapFunc = std::function<Result<std::shared_ptr<io::InputStream>>(
+    std::shared_ptr<io::InputStream>)>;
+std::shared_ptr<StreamWrapFunc> MakeStreamTransformFunc(TransformInputStreamVTable vtable,
+                                                        PyObject* handler);
+
 }  // namespace py
 }  // namespace arrow
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/_csv.pxd b/python/pyarrow/_csv.pxd
index dcc562a41c7..a7d63e548bf 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/_csv.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/_csv.pxd
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@ cdef class ParseOptions(_Weakrefable):
 cdef class ReadOptions(_Weakrefable):
     cdef:
         unique_ptr[CCSVReadOptions] options
-        public object encoding
 
     @staticmethod
     cdef ReadOptions wrap(CCSVReadOptions options)
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/_csv.pyx b/python/pyarrow/_csv.pyx
index d1db03c75f1..5dd2181292b 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/_csv.pyx
+++ b/python/pyarrow/_csv.pyx
@@ -201,7 +201,6 @@ cdef class ReadOptions(_Weakrefable):
             self.column_names = column_names
         if autogenerate_column_names is not None:
             self.autogenerate_column_names= autogenerate_column_names
-        # Python-specific option
         self.encoding = encoding
         if skip_rows_after_names is not None:
             self.skip_rows_after_names = skip_rows_after_names
@@ -288,6 +287,17 @@ cdef class ReadOptions(_Weakrefable):
     def skip_rows_after_names(self, value):
         deref(self.options).skip_rows_after_names = value
 
+    @property
+    def encoding(self):
+        """
+        Character encoding used for this input. Default 'utf8'.
+        """
+        return frombytes(deref(self.options).encoding)
+
+    @encoding.setter
+    def encoding(self, value):
+        deref(self.options).encoding = tobytes(value)
+
     def validate(self):
         check_status(deref(self.options).Validate())
 
@@ -307,7 +317,6 @@ cdef class ReadOptions(_Weakrefable):
     cdef ReadOptions wrap(CCSVReadOptions options):
         out = ReadOptions()
         out.options.reset(new CCSVReadOptions(move(options)))
-        out.encoding = 'utf8'  # No way to know this
         return out
 
     def __getstate__(self):
@@ -1075,7 +1084,7 @@ cdef _get_reader(input_file, ReadOptions read_options,
                  shared_ptr[CInputStream]* out):
     use_memory_map = False
     get_input_stream(input_file, use_memory_map, out)
-    if read_options is not None:
+    if read_options is not None and read_options.encoding != 'utf8':
         out[0] = native_transcoding_input_stream(out[0],
                                                  read_options.encoding,
                                                  'utf8')
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/_dataset.pyx b/python/pyarrow/_dataset.pyx
index 68833a5350e..9c69c39de3e 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/_dataset.pyx
+++ b/python/pyarrow/_dataset.pyx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 from cython.operator cimport dereference as deref
 
+import codecs
 import collections
 import os
 import warnings
@@ -1198,6 +1199,9 @@ cdef class CsvFileFormat(FileFormat):
             raise TypeError('`default_fragment_scan_options` must be either '
                             'a dictionary or an instance of '
                             'CsvFragmentScanOptions')
+        else:
+            # default_fragment_scan_options is needed to add a transcoder
+            self.default_fragment_scan_options = CsvFragmentScanOptions()
 
     cdef void init(self, const shared_ptr[CFileFormat]& sp):
         FileFormat.init(self, sp)
@@ -1283,6 +1287,9 @@ cdef class CsvFragmentScanOptions(FragmentScanOptions):
     @read_options.setter
     def read_options(self, ReadOptions read_options not None):
         self.csv_options.read_options = deref(read_options.options)
+        if read_options.encoding != 'utf8':
+            self.csv_options.stream_transform_func = deref(
+                make_streamwrap_func(read_options.encoding, 'utf8'))
 
     def equals(self, CsvFragmentScanOptions other):
         return (
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
index 4cbcef84e88..8f8bd5f531b 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
@@ -1208,6 +1208,9 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/builder.h" namespace "arrow" nogil:
 ctypedef void CallbackTransform(object, const shared_ptr[CBuffer]& src,
                                 shared_ptr[CBuffer]* dest)
 
+ctypedef CResult[shared_ptr[CInputStream]] StreamWrapFunc(
+    shared_ptr[CInputStream])
+
 
 cdef extern from "arrow/util/cancel.h" namespace "arrow" nogil:
     cdef cppclass CStopToken "arrow::StopToken":
@@ -1369,6 +1372,11 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/io/api.h" namespace "arrow::io" nogil:
         shared_ptr[CInputStream] wrapped, CTransformInputStreamVTable vtable,
         object method_arg)
 
+    shared_ptr[function[StreamWrapFunc]] MakeStreamTransformFunc \
+        "arrow::py::MakeStreamTransformFunc"(
+        CTransformInputStreamVTable vtable,
+        object method_arg)
+
     # ----------------------------------------------------------------------
     # HDFS
 
@@ -1723,6 +1731,7 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/csv/api.h" namespace "arrow::csv" nogil:
         int32_t skip_rows_after_names
         vector[c_string] column_names
         c_bool autogenerate_column_names
+        c_string encoding
 
         CCSVReadOptions()
         CCSVReadOptions(CCSVReadOptions&&)
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow_dataset.pxd b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow_dataset.pxd
index bd8fbd1b56a..ad1bbbc5442 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow_dataset.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow_dataset.pxd
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/dataset/api.h" namespace "arrow::dataset" nogil:
             "arrow::dataset::CsvFragmentScanOptions"(CFragmentScanOptions):
         CCSVConvertOptions convert_options
         CCSVReadOptions read_options
+        function[StreamWrapFunc] stream_transform_func
 
     cdef cppclass CPartitioning "arrow::dataset::Partitioning":
         c_string type_name() const
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/io.pxi b/python/pyarrow/io.pxi
index d2e4f7062e6..716a23721c5 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/io.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/io.pxi
@@ -1547,6 +1547,33 @@ class Transcoder:
         return self._encoder.encode(self._decoder.decode(buf, final), final)
 
 
+cdef shared_ptr[function[StreamWrapFunc]] make_streamwrap_func(
+        src_encoding, dest_encoding) except *:
+    """
+    Create a function that will add a transcoding transformation to a stream.
+    Data from that stream will be decoded according to ``src_encoding`` and
+    then re-encoded according to ``dest_encoding``.
+    The created function can be used to wrap streams.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    src_encoding : str
+        The codec to use when reading data.
+    dest_encoding : str
+        The codec to use for emitted data.
+    """
+    cdef:
+        shared_ptr[function[StreamWrapFunc]] empty_func
+        CTransformInputStreamVTable vtable
+
+    vtable.transform = _cb_transform
+    src_codec = codecs.lookup(src_encoding)
+    dest_codec = codecs.lookup(dest_encoding)
+    return MakeStreamTransformFunc(move(vtable),
+                                   Transcoder(src_codec.incrementaldecoder(),
+                                   dest_codec.incrementalencoder()))
+
+
 def transcoding_input_stream(stream, src_encoding, dest_encoding):
     """
     Add a transcoding transformation to the stream.
@@ -1558,7 +1585,7 @@ def transcoding_input_stream(stream, src_encoding, dest_encoding):
     stream : NativeFile
         The stream to which the transformation should be applied.
     src_encoding : str
-        The codec to use when reading data data.
+        The codec to use when reading data.
     dest_encoding : str
         The codec to use for emitted data.
     """
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd b/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd
index 953b0e7b518..67db3d2ffb8 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/lib.pxd
@@ -536,6 +536,9 @@ cdef shared_ptr[CInputStream] native_transcoding_input_stream(
     shared_ptr[CInputStream] stream, src_encoding,
     dest_encoding) except *
 
+cdef shared_ptr[function[StreamWrapFunc]] make_streamwrap_func(
+    src_encoding, dest_encoding) except *
+
 # Default is allow_none=False
 cpdef DataType ensure_type(object type, bint allow_none=*)