bytestring?

I was wondering if there was interest in modifying the io interpretation 
of "~ts" to allow an integer between the t and s for forcing a 
particular unicode interpretation.  That would allow a list of bytes to 
be interpreted as UTF8, to provide the same output as a binary:
1> io:format("~ts~n",[<<16#C2,16#A2>>]).
¢
ok
2> io:format("~t8s~n",[[16#C2,16#A2]]).
¢
ok

I was also wondering if bytestring types would be added to Erlang/OTP, like:
-type nonempty_bytestring() :: nonempty_list(byte()).
-type bytestring() :: list(byte()).

They are useful in iolists to ensure only bytes (not other integers) are 
in nested lists.

Best Regards,
Michael