diff --git a/plugins/search/indexer/indexer-java/src/cc/search/indexer/util/IOHelper.java b/plugins/search/indexer/indexer-java/src/cc/search/indexer/util/IOHelper.java
index 7b50e7dea..085cc1fc1 100644
--- a/plugins/search/indexer/indexer-java/src/cc/search/indexer/util/IOHelper.java
+++ b/plugins/search/indexer/indexer-java/src/cc/search/indexer/util/IOHelper.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public static InputStreamReader getReaderForInput(InputStream input_) throws IOE
 
     if (charset == null) {
       in.reset();
-      charset = Charset.defaultCharset().name();
+      charset = "UTF-8";
     }
 
     return new InputStreamReader(in, charset);
@@ -57,14 +57,12 @@ public static InputStreamReader getReaderForInput(InputStream input_) throws IOE
    * @throws IOException 
    */
   public static String readFullContent(InputStreamReader reader_) throws IOException {
-    ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
-
-    int b = reader_.read();
-    while (b != -1) {
-      out.write(b);
-      b = reader_.read();
+    StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder();
+    char[] buffer = new char[4096];
+    int read;
+    while ((read = reader_.read(buffer)) != -1) {
+      out.append(buffer, 0, read);
     }
-
-    return out.toString(reader_.getEncoding());
+    return out.toString();
   }
 }
diff --git a/plugins/search/indexer/src/indexerprocess.cpp b/plugins/search/indexer/src/indexerprocess.cpp
index c2064f62d..1559720c3 100644
--- a/plugins/search/indexer/src/indexerprocess.cpp
+++ b/plugins/search/indexer/src/indexerprocess.cpp
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ IndexerProcess::IndexerProcess(
 
     std::vector<const char*> execArguments {
       "java", JAVAMEMORYAMOUNT,
+      "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8",
       "-classpath", classpath.c_str(),
       "-Djava.util.logging.config.class=cc.search.common.config.LogConfigurator",
       "-Djava.util.logging.SimpleFormatter.format=%1$tY-%1$tm-%1$td %1$tT [%4$s] %5$s%6$s%n",
diff --git a/plugins/search/service/include/service/serviceprocess.h b/plugins/search/service/include/service/serviceprocess.h
index 319788aba..6bf5451b9 100644
--- a/plugins/search/service/include/service/serviceprocess.h
+++ b/plugins/search/service/include/service/serviceprocess.h
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ class ServiceProcess : public SearchServiceIf, public util::PipedProcess
       std::string classpath = compassRoot_ + "/lib/java/*";
 
       ::execlp("java", "java", "-server",
+        "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8",
         "-classpath", classpath.c_str(),
         //"-Xdebug", "-Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=8666",
         "-Djava.util.logging.config.class=cc.search.common.config.LogConfigurator",