diff --git a/lib/fs.js b/lib/fs.js
index 9ecd1aba397515..ac0049d2576ba0 100644
--- a/lib/fs.js
+++ b/lib/fs.js
@@ -1453,8 +1453,8 @@ const splitRootRe = isWindows ?
   /^(?:[a-zA-Z]:|[\\/]{2}[^\\/]+[\\/][^\\/]+)?[\\/]*/ :
   /^[/]*/;
 
-function encodeRealpathResult(result, options, err) {
-  if (!options || !options.encoding || options.encoding === 'utf8' || err)
+function encodeRealpathResult(result, options) {
+  if (!options || !options.encoding || options.encoding === 'utf8')
     return result;
   const asBuffer = Buffer.from(result);
   if (options.encoding === 'buffer') {