diff --git a/R/plumber.R b/R/plumber.R
index 235781f5a..ea54df4fe 100644
--- a/R/plumber.R
+++ b/R/plumber.R
@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@
 #' @import stringi
 NULL
 
+# Hard code UTF-8 file encoding
+# Removes encoding headache at minor cost of setting encoding in editor
+# https://github.com/trestletech/plumber/pull/312
+utf8Encoding <- "UTF-8"
+
 # used to identify annotation flags.
 verbs <- c("GET", "PUT", "POST", "DELETE", "HEAD", "OPTIONS", "PATCH")
 enumerateVerbs <- function(v){
@@ -13,7 +18,7 @@ enumerateVerbs <- function(v){
 
 #' @rdname plumber
 #' @export
-plumb <- function(file, dir=".", encoding="UTF-8"){
+plumb <- function(file, dir="."){
 
   dirMode <- NULL
 
@@ -50,7 +55,7 @@ plumb <- function(file, dir=".", encoding="UTF-8"){
     on.exit(setwd(old))
 
     # Expect that entrypoint will provide us with the router
-    x <- source(entrypoint, encoding=encoding)
+    x <- source(entrypoint, encoding=utf8Encoding)
 
     # source returns a list with value and visible elements, we want the (visible) value object.
     pr <- x$value
@@ -62,7 +67,7 @@ plumb <- function(file, dir=".", encoding="UTF-8"){
   } else if (file.exists(file)) {
     # Plumber file found
 
-    plumber$new(file, encoding=encoding)
+    plumber$new(file)
   } else {
     # Couldn't find the Plumber file nor an entrypoint
     stop("File does not exist: ", file)
@@ -133,7 +138,6 @@ hookable <- R6Class(
 #'   plumber router definition. Alternatively, if an `entrypoint.R` file is
 #'   found, it will take precedence and be responsible for returning a runnable
 #'   Plumber router.
-#' @param encoding Encoding of the input file; see [base::file()].
 #' @include globals.R
 #' @include serializer-json.R
 #' @include parse-block.R
@@ -145,7 +149,7 @@ plumber <- R6Class(
   "plumber",
   inherit = hookable,
   public = list(
-    initialize = function(file=NULL, filters=defaultPlumberFilters, envir, encoding="UTF-8"){
+    initialize = function(file=NULL, filters=defaultPlumberFilters, envir){
 
       if (!is.null(file)){
         if (!file.exists(file)){
@@ -178,11 +182,11 @@ plumber <- R6Class(
       private$notFoundHandler <- default404Handler
 
       if (!is.null(file)){
-        con <- file(file, encoding=encoding)
+        con <- file(file, encoding=utf8Encoding)
         on.exit(close(con), add=TRUE)
 
         private$lines <- readLines(con)
-        Encoding(private$lines) <- "UTF-8"
+        Encoding(private$lines) <- utf8Encoding
 
         srcfile <- srcfilecopy(file, private$lines, file.info(file)[1, "mtime"],
                                isFile=TRUE)
diff --git a/man/plumber.Rd b/man/plumber.Rd
index a56ade9fa..0e207d464 100644
--- a/man/plumber.Rd
+++ b/man/plumber.Rd
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 \title{Plumber Router}
 \format{An object of class \code{R6ClassGenerator} of length 24.}
 \usage{
-plumb(file, dir = ".", encoding = "UTF-8")
+plumb(file, dir = ".")
 
 plumber
 }
@@ -18,8 +18,6 @@ plumber
 plumber router definition. Alternatively, if an \code{entrypoint.R} file is
 found, it will take precedence and be responsible for returning a runnable
 Plumber router.}
-
-\item{encoding}{Encoding of the input file; see \code{\link[base:file]{base::file()}}.}
 }
 \description{
 Routers are the core request handler in plumber. A router is responsible for
diff --git a/tests/testthat/files/gb2312-encoded.R b/tests/testthat/files/gb2312-encoded.R
deleted file mode 100644
index 0bd094902..000000000
--- a/tests/testthat/files/gb2312-encoded.R
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-# Note this file is saved with GB2312 encoding intentionally
-#* @get /echo
-function() {
-  "ÖÐÎÄÏûÏ¢"
-}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/files/multibytes.R b/tests/testthat/files/multibytes.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f1563baf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/files/multibytes.R
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#* @get /echo
+function() {
+  "中文消�"
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-encoding.R b/tests/testthat/test-encoding.R
deleted file mode 100644
index ed837c734..000000000
--- a/tests/testthat/test-encoding.R
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-context("encoding")
-
-test_that("support other encoding", {
-  r <- plumber$new("files/gb2312-encoded.R", encoding = "GB2312")
-  req <- make_req("GET", "/echo")
-  res <- PlumberResponse$new()
-  out <- r$serve(req, res)$body
-  expect_identical(out, jsonlite::toJSON("\u4e2d\u6587\u6d88\u606f"))
-  expect_equal(Encoding(out), "UTF-8")
-})
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-multibytes.R b/tests/testthat/test-multibytes.R
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e91cb1e64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-multibytes.R
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+context("multibytes source file")
+
+test_that("support files with multibytes", {
+  # on Windows, the default encoding is not UTF-8. So, plumber has to
+  # tell R to use UTF-8 encoding to read the source file.
+  r <- plumber$new("files/multibytes.R")
+  req <- make_req("GET", "/echo")
+  res <- PlumberResponse$new()
+  out <- r$serve(req, res)$body
+  expect_identical(out, jsonlite::toJSON("\u4e2d\u6587\u6d88\u606f"))
+  expect_equal(Encoding(out), "UTF-8")
+})