diff --git a/lib/response.js b/lib/response.js
index dd7b3c8201..e8f5053d09 100644
--- a/lib/response.js
+++ b/lib/response.js
@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ res.json = function json(obj) {
 
   // content-type
   if (!this.get('Content-Type')) {
-    this.set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
+    this.set('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8');
   }
 
   return this.send(body);
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ res.jsonp = function jsonp(obj) {
   // content-type
   if (!this.get('Content-Type')) {
     this.set('X-Content-Type-Options', 'nosniff');
-    this.set('Content-Type', 'application/json');
+    this.set('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=utf-8');
   }
 
   // fixup callback