diff --git a/sanic/static.py b/sanic/static.py
index 0a75d9dc..f0943a7d 100644
--- a/sanic/static.py
+++ b/sanic/static.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 from functools import partial, wraps
 from mimetypes import guess_type
 from os import path
+from pathlib import PurePath
 from re import sub
 from time import gmtime, strftime
+from typing import Union
 from urllib.parse import unquote
 
 from sanic.compat import stat_async
@@ -110,13 +112,13 @@ async def _static_request_handler(
 
 def register(
     app,
-    uri,
-    file_or_directory,
+    uri: str,
+    file_or_directory: Union[str, bytes, PurePath],
     pattern,
     use_modified_since,
     use_content_range,
     stream_large_files,
-    name="static",
+    name: str = "static",
     host=None,
     strict_slashes=None,
     content_type=None,
@@ -130,7 +132,9 @@ def register(
 
     :param app: Sanic
     :param file_or_directory: File or directory path to serve from
+    :type file_or_directory: Union[str,bytes,Path]
     :param uri: URL to serve from
+    :type uri: str
     :param pattern: regular expression used to match files in the URL
     :param use_modified_since: If true, send file modified time, and return
                                not modified if the browser's matches the
@@ -142,10 +146,19 @@ def register(
                               If this is an integer, this represents the
                               threshold size to switch to file_stream()
     :param name: user defined name used for url_for
+    :type name: str
     :param content_type: user defined content type for header
     :return: registered static routes
     :rtype: List[sanic.router.Route]
     """
+
+    if isinstance(file_or_directory, bytes):
+        file_or_directory = file_or_directory.decode("utf-8")
+    elif isinstance(file_or_directory, PurePath):
+        file_or_directory = str(file_or_directory)
+    elif not isinstance(file_or_directory, str):
+        raise ValueError("Invalid file path string.")
+
     # If we're not trying to match a file directly,
     # serve from the folder
     if not path.isfile(file_or_directory):
diff --git a/tests/test_static.py b/tests/test_static.py
index 91635a45..23ba05d7 100644
--- a/tests/test_static.py
+++ b/tests/test_static.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import inspect
 import os
-
+from pathlib import Path
 from time import gmtime, strftime
 
 import pytest
@@ -76,6 +76,41 @@ def test_static_file(app, static_file_directory, file_name):
     assert response.body == get_file_content(static_file_directory, file_name)
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "file_name",
+    ["test.file", "decode me.txt", "python.png", "symlink", "hard_link"],
+)
+def test_static_file_pathlib(app, static_file_directory, file_name):
+    file_path = Path(get_file_path(static_file_directory, file_name))
+    app.static("/testing.file", file_path)
+    request, response = app.test_client.get("/testing.file")
+    assert response.status == 200
+    assert response.body == get_file_content(static_file_directory, file_name)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "file_name",
+    [b"test.file", b"decode me.txt", b"python.png"],
+)
+def test_static_file_bytes(app, static_file_directory, file_name):
+    bsep = os.path.sep.encode('utf-8')
+    file_path = static_file_directory.encode('utf-8') + bsep + file_name
+    app.static("/testing.file", file_path)
+    request, response = app.test_client.get("/testing.file")
+    assert response.status == 200
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "file_name",
+    [dict(), list(), object()],
+)
+def test_static_file_invalid_path(app, static_file_directory, file_name):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        app.static("/testing.file", file_name)
+    request, response = app.test_client.get("/testing.file")
+    assert response.status == 404
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("file_name", ["test.html"])
 def test_static_file_content_type(app, static_file_directory, file_name):
     app.static(