diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoder.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoder.java
index 037e7bea1d7..ad3ae0f4ced 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoder.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoder.java
@@ -447,7 +447,7 @@ protected void setApplyRowBlocksPerColumn(int nPart) {
 	}
 
 	public enum EncoderType {
-		Recode, FeatureHash, PassThrough, Bin, Dummycode, Omit, MVImpute, Composite, WordEmbedding, BagOfWords
+		Recode, FeatureHash, PassThrough, Bin, Dummycode, Omit, MVImpute, Composite, WordEmbedding, BagOfWords, UDF
 	}
 
 	/*
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoderUDF.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoderUDF.java
index 756a1fdc5cb..79c21a650e4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoderUDF.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/ColumnEncoderUDF.java
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 
 package org.apache.sysds.runtime.transform.encode;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.ObjectInput;
+import java.io.ObjectOutput;
 import java.util.List;
 
 import org.apache.sysds.api.DMLScript;
@@ -46,7 +49,7 @@ public class ColumnEncoderUDF extends ColumnEncoder {
 	//TODO pass execution context through encoder factory for arbitrary functions not just builtin
 	//TODO integration into IPA to ensure existence of unoptimized functions
 	
-	private final String _fName;
+	private String _fName;
 	public int _domainSize = 1;
 
 	protected ColumnEncoderUDF(int ptCols, String name) {
@@ -165,4 +168,20 @@ protected double getCode(CacheBlock<?> in, int row) {
 	protected double[] getCodeCol(CacheBlock<?> in, int startInd, int endInd, double[] tmp) {
 		throw new DMLRuntimeException("UDF encoders only support full column access.");
 	}
+
+	@Override
+	public void writeExternal(ObjectOutput out) throws IOException {
+		super.writeExternal(out);
+		out.writeUTF(_fName != null ? _fName : "");
+		out.writeInt(_domainSize);
+	}
+
+	@Override
+	public void readExternal(ObjectInput in) throws IOException {
+		super.readExternal(in);
+		_fName = in.readUTF();
+		if(_fName.isEmpty())
+			_fName = null;
+		_domainSize = in.readInt();
+	}
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/EncoderFactory.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/EncoderFactory.java
index 1294d0e7e79..507cae36da4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/EncoderFactory.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/sysds/runtime/transform/encode/EncoderFactory.java
@@ -267,6 +267,8 @@ else if(columnEncoder instanceof ColumnEncoderWordEmbedding)
 			return EncoderType.WordEmbedding.ordinal();
 		else if(columnEncoder instanceof ColumnEncoderBagOfWords)
 			return EncoderType.BagOfWords.ordinal();
+		else if(columnEncoder instanceof ColumnEncoderUDF)
+			return EncoderType.UDF.ordinal();
 		throw new DMLRuntimeException("Unsupported encoder type: " + columnEncoder.getClass().getCanonicalName());
 	}
 
@@ -276,19 +278,21 @@ public static ColumnEncoder createInstance(int type) {
 			case Bin:
 				return new ColumnEncoderBin();
 			case Dummycode:
-				return new ColumnEncoderDummycode();
-			case FeatureHash:
-				return new ColumnEncoderFeatureHash();
-			case PassThrough:
-				return new ColumnEncoderPassThrough();
-			case Recode:
-				return new ColumnEncoderRecode();
-			case WordEmbedding:
-				return new ColumnEncoderWordEmbedding();
-			case BagOfWords:
-				return new ColumnEncoderBagOfWords();
-			default:
-				throw new DMLRuntimeException("Unsupported encoder type: " + etype);
+			return new ColumnEncoderDummycode();
+		case FeatureHash:
+			return new ColumnEncoderFeatureHash();
+		case PassThrough:
+			return new ColumnEncoderPassThrough();
+		case Recode:
+			return new ColumnEncoderRecode();
+		case WordEmbedding:
+			return new ColumnEncoderWordEmbedding();
+		case BagOfWords:
+			return new ColumnEncoderBagOfWords();
+		case UDF:
+			return new ColumnEncoderUDF();
+		default:
+			throw new DMLRuntimeException("Unsupported encoder type: " + etype);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/io/binary/SerializeTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/io/binary/SerializeTest.java
index afe15adf655..2391df6925c 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/io/binary/SerializeTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/sysds/test/functions/io/binary/SerializeTest.java
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 import org.apache.sysds.runtime.frame.data.FrameBlock;
 import org.apache.sysds.runtime.transform.encode.EncoderFactory;
 import org.apache.sysds.runtime.transform.encode.MultiColumnEncoder;
+import org.apache.sysds.runtime.transform.encode.ColumnEncoderComposite;
+import org.apache.sysds.runtime.transform.encode.ColumnEncoderUDF;
 import org.apache.sysds.runtime.util.LocalFileUtils;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -46,6 +48,9 @@
 import java.io.ObjectOutput;
 import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;
 import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
 
 public class SerializeTest extends AutomatedTestBase
 {
@@ -113,6 +118,11 @@ public void testWEEncoderSerialization(){
 		runSerializeWEEncoder();
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testUDFEncoderSerialization(){
+		runSerializeUDFEncoder();
+	}
+
 	private void runSerializeTest( int rows, int cols, double sparsity ) 
 	{
 		try
@@ -188,6 +198,63 @@ private void runSerializeWEEncoder(){
 		}
 	}
 
+	private void runSerializeUDFEncoder(){
+		try (ByteArrayOutputStream bos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+			 ObjectOutput out = new ObjectOutputStream(bos)) {
+			final String udfName = "dummyUdf";
+			final int colId = 2;
+			final int domainSize = 5;
+
+			ColumnEncoderUDF udf = createUdf(colId, udfName, domainSize);
+			ColumnEncoderComposite composite = new ColumnEncoderComposite(Collections.singletonList(udf));
+			MultiColumnEncoder encoder = new MultiColumnEncoder(Collections.singletonList(composite));
+
+			encoder.writeExternal(out);
+			out.flush();
+
+			ByteArrayInputStream bis = new ByteArrayInputStream(bos.toByteArray());
+			ObjectInput in = new ObjectInputStream(bis);
+			MultiColumnEncoder encoderSer = new MultiColumnEncoder();
+			encoderSer.readExternal(in);
+			in.close();
+
+			ColumnEncoderComposite decodedComposite = encoderSer.getColumnEncoders().get(0);
+			ColumnEncoderUDF decodedUdf = decodedComposite.getEncoder(ColumnEncoderUDF.class);
+
+			Assert.assertNotNull(decodedUdf);
+			Assert.assertEquals(colId, decodedUdf.getColID());
+			Assert.assertEquals(domainSize, decodedUdf._domainSize);
+			Assert.assertEquals(udfName, getUdfName(decodedUdf));
+		}
+		catch(IOException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
+			throw new RuntimeException(e);
+		}
+	}
+
+	private ColumnEncoderUDF createUdf(int colId, String name, int domainSize) {
+		try {
+			Constructor<ColumnEncoderUDF> ctor = ColumnEncoderUDF.class.getDeclaredConstructor(int.class, String.class);
+			ctor.setAccessible(true);
+			ColumnEncoderUDF udf = ctor.newInstance(colId, name);
+			udf._domainSize = domainSize;
+			return udf;
+		}
+		catch(Exception e) {
+			throw new RuntimeException(e);
+		}
+	}
+
+	private String getUdfName(ColumnEncoderUDF udf) {
+		try {
+			Field f = ColumnEncoderUDF.class.getDeclaredField("_fName");
+			f.setAccessible(true);
+			return (String) f.get(udf);
+		}
+		catch(Exception e) {
+			throw new RuntimeException(e);
+		}
+	}
+
 	private void runSerializeDedupDenseTest( int rows, int cols )
 	{
 		try