diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bd598719e..87a1de241 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -74,13 +74,13 @@ You can link against this library in your program at the following coordinates:
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
-<pre>groupId: za.co.absa.cobrix<br>artifactId: spark-cobol_2.11<br>version: 2.8.0</pre>
+<pre>groupId: za.co.absa.cobrix<br>artifactId: spark-cobol_2.11<br>version: 2.8.1</pre>
 </td>
 <td>
-<pre>groupId: za.co.absa.cobrix<br>artifactId: spark-cobol_2.12<br>version: 2.8.0</pre>
+<pre>groupId: za.co.absa.cobrix<br>artifactId: spark-cobol_2.12<br>version: 2.8.1</pre>
 </td>
 <td>
-<pre>groupId: za.co.absa.cobrix<br>artifactId: spark-cobol_2.13<br>version: 2.8.0</pre>
+<pre>groupId: za.co.absa.cobrix<br>artifactId: spark-cobol_2.13<br>version: 2.8.1</pre>
 </td>
 </tr>
 </table>
@@ -91,17 +91,17 @@ This package can be added to Spark using the `--packages` command line option. F
 
 ### Spark compiled with Scala 2.11
 ```
-$SPARK_HOME/bin/spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.11:2.8.0
+$SPARK_HOME/bin/spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.11:2.8.1
 ```
 
 ### Spark compiled with Scala 2.12
 ```
-$SPARK_HOME/bin/spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.12:2.8.0
+$SPARK_HOME/bin/spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.12:2.8.1
 ```
 
 ### Spark compiled with Scala 2.13
 ```
-$SPARK_HOME/bin/spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.13:2.8.0
+$SPARK_HOME/bin/spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.13:2.8.1
 ```
 
 ## Usage
@@ -237,8 +237,8 @@ Cobrix's `spark-cobol` data source depends on the COBOL parser that is a part of
 
 The jars that you need to get are:
 
-* spark-cobol_2.12-2.8.0.jar
-* cobol-parser_2.12-2.8.0.jar
+* spark-cobol_2.12-2.8.1.jar
+* cobol-parser_2.12-2.8.1.jar
 
 > Versions older than 2.8.0 also need `scodec-core_2.12-1.10.3.jar` and `scodec-bits_2.12-1.1.4.jar`.
 
@@ -246,9 +246,9 @@ The jars that you need to get are:
 
 After that you can specify these jars in `spark-shell` command line. Here is an example:
 ```
-$ spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.12:2.8.0
+$ spark-shell --packages za.co.absa.cobrix:spark-cobol_2.12:2.8.1
 or 
-$ spark-shell --master yarn --deploy-mode client --driver-cores 4 --driver-memory 4G --jars spark-cobol_2.12-2.8.0.jar,cobol-parser_2.12-2.8.0.jar
+$ spark-shell --master yarn --deploy-mode client --driver-cores 4 --driver-memory 4G --jars spark-cobol_2.12-2.8.1.jar,cobol-parser_2.12-2.8.1.jar
 
 Setting default log level to "WARN".
 To adjust logging level use sc.setLogLevel(newLevel). For SparkR, use setLogLevel(newLevel).
@@ -1784,6 +1784,10 @@ at org.apache.hadoop.io.nativeio.NativeIO$POSIX.getStat(NativeIO.java:608)
 A: Update hadoop dll to version 3.2.2 or newer.
 
 ## Changelog
+- #### 2.8.1 released 27 January 2025.
+   - [#730](https://github.com/AbsaOSS/cobrix/issues/730) Added more code pages with euro character in https://github.com/AbsaOSS/cobrix/pull/741.
+   - [#740](https://github.com/AbsaOSS/cobrix/issues/740) Extended binary type support to make sure unsigned binary fields can fit Spark data types in https://github.com/AbsaOSS/cobrix/pull/742.
+
 - #### 2.8.0 released 8 January 2025.
    - [#258](https://github.com/AbsaOSS/cobrix/issues/258) Removed dependency on `scodec` so that it doesn't cause conflicts with Spark distributions and other libraries.
 
diff --git a/examples/examples-collection/pom.xml b/examples/examples-collection/pom.xml
index 667e40ffd..0617639e7 100644
--- a/examples/examples-collection/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/examples-collection/pom.xml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 		<scala.compat.version>2.11</scala.compat.version>	
 		<spark.version>2.4.8</spark.version>
 		<specs.version>2.4.16</specs.version>
-		<spark.cobol.version>2.8.0</spark.cobol.version>
+		<spark.cobol.version>2.8.1</spark.cobol.version>
 	</properties>
 	
 	<dependencies>
diff --git a/examples/spark-cobol-app/build.sbt b/examples/spark-cobol-app/build.sbt
index d21f7aa7c..283fbe887 100644
--- a/examples/spark-cobol-app/build.sbt
+++ b/examples/spark-cobol-app/build.sbt
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ ThisBuild / version      := "0.1.0-SNAPSHOT"
 ThisBuild / scalaVersion := "2.12.17"
 
 val sparkVersion = "3.5.3"
-val sparkCobolVersion = "2.8.0"
+val sparkCobolVersion = "2.8.1"
 val scalatestVersion = "3.2.14"
 
 ThisBuild / libraryDependencies ++= Seq(
diff --git a/examples/spark-cobol-app/pom.xml b/examples/spark-cobol-app/pom.xml
index bc6fbaa47..b4f1398d8 100755
--- a/examples/spark-cobol-app/pom.xml
+++ b/examples/spark-cobol-app/pom.xml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 		<scala.compat.version>2.12</scala.compat.version>
 		<scalatest.version>3.2.14</scalatest.version>
 		<spark.version>3.5.3</spark.version>
-		<spark.cobol.version>2.8.0</spark.cobol.version>
+		<spark.cobol.version>2.8.1</spark.cobol.version>
 	</properties>
 	
 	<dependencies>