diff --git a/java/external/src/javax/xml/parsers/FactoryFinder.java b/java/external/src/javax/xml/parsers/FactoryFinder.java
index f98a816..f76c010 100644
--- a/java/external/src/javax/xml/parsers/FactoryFinder.java
+++ b/java/external/src/javax/xml/parsers/FactoryFinder.java
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ class FactoryFinder {
             if( is!=null ) {
                 debugPrintln("found " + serviceId);
                 BufferedReader rd =
-                    new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
+                    new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is, "UTF-8"));
         
                 String factoryClassName = rd.readLine();
                 rd.close();
diff --git a/java/external/src/javax/xml/transform/FactoryFinder.java b/java/external/src/javax/xml/transform/FactoryFinder.java
index ce8c79e..f3b5f2b 100644
--- a/java/external/src/javax/xml/transform/FactoryFinder.java
+++ b/java/external/src/javax/xml/transform/FactoryFinder.java
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ class FactoryFinder {
             if( is!=null ) {
                 debugPrintln("found " + serviceId);
                 BufferedReader rd =
-                    new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is));
+                    new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is, "UTF-8"));
         
                 String factoryClassName = rd.readLine();
                 rd.close();