diff --git a/install/0.9.7/rhel/roundcube-main.conf b/install/0.9.7/rhel/roundcube-main.conf
index 288dfb957..33c751ee7 100644
--- a/install/0.9.7/rhel/roundcube-main.conf
+++ b/install/0.9.7/rhel/roundcube-main.conf
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ $rcmail_config['flag_for_deletion'] = TRUE;
 $rcmail_config['mdn_requests'] = 0;
 
 // Use this charset as fallback for message decoding
-$rcmail_config['default_charset'] = 'ISO-8859-1';
+$rcmail_config['default_charset'] = 'UTF-8';
 
 // Make use of the built-in spell checker. It is based on GoogieSpell.
 // Since Google only accepts connections over https your PHP installatation