diff --git a/pkg/govis/govis.go b/pkg/govis/govis.go
index 003b182..4200af2 100644
--- a/pkg/govis/govis.go
+++ b/pkg/govis/govis.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 package govis
 
 import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -44,6 +46,25 @@ const (
 	VisWhite VisFlag = (VisSpace | VisTab | VisNewline)
 )
 
+// errUnknownVisFlagsError is a special value that lets you use [errors.Is]
+// with [unknownVisFlagsError]. Don't actually return this value, use
+// [unknownVisFlagsError] instead!
+var errUnknownVisFlagsError = errors.New("unknown or unsupported vis flags")
+
+// unknownVisFlagsError represents an error caused by unknown [VisFlag]s being
+// passed to [Vis] or [Unvis].
+type unknownVisFlagsError struct {
+	flags VisFlag
+}
+
+func (err unknownVisFlagsError) Is(target error) bool {
+	return target == errUnknownVisFlagsError
+}
+
+func (err unknownVisFlagsError) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s contains unknown or unsupported flags %s", err.flags, err.flags&^visMask)
+}
+
 // String pretty-prints VisFlag.
 func (vflags VisFlag) String() string {
 	flagNames := []struct {
diff --git a/pkg/govis/govis_test.go b/pkg/govis/govis_test.go
index 5027030..e3c9245 100644
--- a/pkg/govis/govis_test.go
+++ b/pkg/govis/govis_test.go
@@ -215,3 +215,21 @@ func TestVisFlagsString(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestUnknownVisFlagsError(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Run("Vis", func(t *testing.T) {
+		enc, err := Vis("dummy text", visMask+1)
+		require.Error(t, err, "Vis with invalid flags should fail")
+		assert.ErrorIs(t, err, errUnknownVisFlagsError, "Vis with invalid flags")
+		assert.ErrorContains(t, err, "contains unknown or unsupported flags", "Vis with invalid flags")
+		assert.Equal(t, "", enc, "error Vis should return empty string")
+	})
+
+	t.Run("Unvis", func(t *testing.T) {
+		dec, err := Unvis("dummy text", visMask+1)
+		require.Error(t, err, "Unvis with invalid flags should fail")
+		assert.ErrorIs(t, err, errUnknownVisFlagsError, "Unvis with invalid flags")
+		assert.ErrorContains(t, err, "contains unknown or unsupported flags", "Vis with invalid flags")
+		assert.Equal(t, "", dec, "error Unvis should return empty string")
+	})
+}
diff --git a/pkg/govis/unvis.go b/pkg/govis/unvis.go
index ddf7725..5dbf935 100644
--- a/pkg/govis/unvis.go
+++ b/pkg/govis/unvis.go
@@ -19,11 +19,19 @@
 package govis
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
 	"unicode"
 )
 
+var (
+	errEndOfString       = errors.New("unexpectedly reached end of string")
+	errUnknownEscapeChar = errors.New("unknown escape character")
+	errOutsideLatin1     = errors.New("outside latin-1 encoding")
+	errParseDigit        = errors.New("could not parse digit")
+)
+
 // unvisParser stores the current state of the token parser.
 type unvisParser struct {
 	tokens []rune
@@ -39,7 +47,7 @@ func (p *unvisParser) Next() {
 // Peek gets the current token.
 func (p *unvisParser) Peek() (rune, error) {
 	if p.idx >= len(p.tokens) {
-		return unicode.ReplacementChar, fmt.Errorf("tried to read past end of token list")
+		return unicode.ReplacementChar, errEndOfString
 	}
 	return p.tokens[p.idx], nil
 }
@@ -75,23 +83,16 @@ func newParser(input string, flag VisFlag) *unvisParser {
 func unvisPlainRune(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 	ch, err := p.Peek()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("plain rune: %c", ch)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("plain rune: %w", err)
 	}
 	p.Next()
-
-	// XXX: Maybe we should not be converting to runes and then back to strings
-	//      here. Are we sure that the byte-for-byte representation is the
-	//      same? If the bytes change, then using these strings for paths will
-	//      break...
-
-	str := string(ch)
-	return []byte(str), nil
+	return []byte(string(ch)), nil
 }
 
 func unvisEscapeCStyle(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 	ch, err := p.Peek()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape hex: %s", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape cstyle: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	output := ""
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ func unvisEscapeCStyle(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 		// Hidden marker.
 	default:
 		// XXX: We should probably allow falling through and return "\" here...
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape cstyle: unknown escape character: %q", ch)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape cstyle: %w %q", errUnknownEscapeChar, ch)
 	}
 
 	p.Next()
@@ -136,7 +137,7 @@ func unvisEscapeDigits(p *unvisParser, base int, force bool) ([]byte, error) {
 			if !force && i != 0xFF {
 				break
 			}
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape base %d: %s", base, err)
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape base %d: %w", base, err)
 		}
 
 		digit, err := strconv.ParseInt(string(ch), base, 8)
@@ -144,7 +145,7 @@ func unvisEscapeDigits(p *unvisParser, base int, force bool) ([]byte, error) {
 			if !force && i != 0xFF {
 				break
 			}
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape base %d: could not parse digit: %s", base, err)
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape base %d: %w %q: %w", base, errParseDigit, ch, err)
 		}
 
 		code = (code * base) + int(digit)
@@ -152,7 +153,7 @@ func unvisEscapeDigits(p *unvisParser, base int, force bool) ([]byte, error) {
 	}
 
 	if code > unicode.MaxLatin1 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape base %d: code %q outside latin-1 encoding", base, code)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape base %d: code %+.2x %w", base, code, errOutsideLatin1)
 	}
 
 	char := byte(code & 0xFF)
@@ -162,10 +163,10 @@ func unvisEscapeDigits(p *unvisParser, base int, force bool) ([]byte, error) {
 func unvisEscapeCtrl(p *unvisParser, mask byte) ([]byte, error) {
 	ch, err := p.Peek()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape ctrl: %s", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape ctrl: %w", err)
 	}
 	if ch > unicode.MaxLatin1 {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape ctrl: code %q outside latin-1 encoding", ch)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape ctrl: code %q %w", ch, errOutsideLatin1)
 	}
 
 	char := byte(ch) & 0x1f
@@ -180,7 +181,7 @@ func unvisEscapeCtrl(p *unvisParser, mask byte) ([]byte, error) {
 func unvisEscapeMeta(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 	ch, err := p.Peek()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta: %s", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	mask := byte(0x80)
@@ -196,10 +197,10 @@ func unvisEscapeMeta(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 
 		ch, err := p.Peek()
 		if err != nil {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta1: %s", err)
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta1: %w", err)
 		}
 		if ch > unicode.MaxLatin1 {
-			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta1: code %q outside latin-1 encoding", ch)
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta1: code %q %w", ch, errOutsideLatin1)
 		}
 
 		// Add mask to character.
@@ -207,13 +208,13 @@ func unvisEscapeMeta(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 		return []byte{mask | byte(ch)}, nil
 	}
 
-	return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta: unknown escape char: %s", err)
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape meta: %w %q", errUnknownEscapeChar, ch)
 }
 
 func unvisEscapeSequence(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 	ch, err := p.Peek()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape sequence: %s", err)
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("escape sequence: %w", err)
 	}
 
 	switch ch {
@@ -244,7 +245,7 @@ func unvisEscapeSequence(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 func unvisRune(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 	ch, err := p.Peek()
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("rune: %s", err)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	switch ch {
@@ -258,11 +259,8 @@ func unvisRune(p *unvisParser) ([]byte, error) {
 			p.Next()
 			return unvisEscapeDigits(p, 16, true)
 		}
-		fallthrough
-
-	default:
-		return unvisPlainRune(p)
 	}
+	return unvisPlainRune(p)
 }
 
 func unvis(p *unvisParser) (string, error) {
@@ -270,7 +268,7 @@ func unvis(p *unvisParser) (string, error) {
 	for !p.End() {
 		ch, err := unvisRune(p)
 		if err != nil {
-			return "", fmt.Errorf("input: %s", err)
+			return "", err
 		}
 		output = append(output, ch...)
 	}
@@ -281,15 +279,14 @@ func unvis(p *unvisParser) (string, error) {
 // VisHTTPStyle flag is checked) and output the un-encoded version of the
 // encoded string. An error is returned if any escape sequences in the input
 // string were invalid.
-func Unvis(input string, flag VisFlag) (string, error) {
-	// TODO: Check all of the VisFlag bits.
-	p := newParser(input, flag)
+func Unvis(input string, flags VisFlag) (string, error) {
+	if unknown := flags &^ visMask; unknown != 0 {
+		return "", unknownVisFlagsError{flags: flags}
+	}
+	p := newParser(input, flags)
 	output, err := unvis(p)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("unvis: %s", err)
-	}
-	if !p.End() {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("unvis: trailing characters at end of input")
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("unvis '%s': %w", input, err)
 	}
 	return output, nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/govis/vis.go b/pkg/govis/vis.go
index 1af15eb..620b49a 100644
--- a/pkg/govis/vis.go
+++ b/pkg/govis/vis.go
@@ -59,14 +59,14 @@ func isgraph(ch rune) bool {
 // the plus side this is actually a benefit on the encoding side (it will
 // always work with the simple unvis(3) implementation). It also means that we
 // don't have to worry about different multi-byte encodings.
-func vis(b byte, flag VisFlag) (string, error) {
+func vis(b byte, flag VisFlag) string {
 	// Treat the single-byte character as a rune.
 	ch := rune(b)
 
 	// XXX: This is quite a horrible thing to support.
 	if flag&VisHTTPStyle == VisHTTPStyle {
 		if !ishttp(ch) {
-			return "%" + fmt.Sprintf("%.2X", ch), nil
+			return "%" + fmt.Sprintf("%.2X", ch)
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -90,31 +90,31 @@ func vis(b byte, flag VisFlag) (string, error) {
 		if ch == '\\' && flag&VisNoSlash == 0 {
 			encoded += "\\"
 		}
-		return encoded, nil
+		return encoded
 	}
 
 	// Try to use C-style escapes first.
 	if flag&VisCStyle == VisCStyle {
 		switch ch {
 		case ' ':
-			return "\\s", nil
+			return "\\s"
 		case '\n':
-			return "\\n", nil
+			return "\\n"
 		case '\r':
-			return "\\r", nil
+			return "\\r"
 		case '\b':
-			return "\\b", nil
+			return "\\b"
 		case '\a':
-			return "\\a", nil
+			return "\\a"
 		case '\v':
-			return "\\v", nil
+			return "\\v"
 		case '\t':
-			return "\\t", nil
+			return "\\t"
 		case '\f':
-			return "\\f", nil
+			return "\\f"
 		case '\x00':
 			// Output octal just to be safe.
-			return "\\000", nil
+			return "\\000"
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ func vis(b byte, flag VisFlag) (string, error) {
 	// encoded as octal.
 	if flag&VisOctal == VisOctal || isgraph(ch) || ch&0x7f == ' ' {
 		// Always output three-character octal just to be safe.
-		return fmt.Sprintf("\\%.3o", ch), nil
+		return fmt.Sprintf("\\%.3o", ch)
 	}
 
 	// Now we have to output meta or ctrl escapes. As far as I can tell, this
@@ -154,25 +154,20 @@ func vis(b byte, flag VisFlag) (string, error) {
 		encoded += fmt.Sprintf("-%c", b)
 	}
 
-	return encoded, nil
+	return encoded
 }
 
 // Vis encodes the provided string to a BSD-compatible encoding using BSD's
 // vis() flags. However, it will correctly handle multi-byte encoding (which is
 // not done properly by BSD's vis implementation).
-func Vis(src string, flag VisFlag) (string, error) {
-	if flag&visMask != flag {
-		return "", fmt.Errorf("vis: flag %q contains unknown or unsupported flags", flag)
+func Vis(src string, flags VisFlag) (string, error) {
+	if unknown := flags &^ visMask; unknown != 0 {
+		return "", unknownVisFlagsError{flags: flags}
 	}
 
 	output := ""
 	for _, ch := range []byte(src) {
-		encodedCh, err := vis(ch, flag)
-		if err != nil {
-			return "", err
-		}
-		output += encodedCh
+		output += vis(ch, flags)
 	}
-
 	return output, nil
 }