diff --git a/icu4c/source/tools/genbrk/genbrk.cpp b/icu4c/source/tools/genbrk/genbrk.cpp
index 2361d2e11e19..4cee4e12c6e1 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/tools/genbrk/genbrk.cpp
+++ b/icu4c/source/tools/genbrk/genbrk.cpp
@@ -22,9 +22,8 @@
 //
 //   The input rule file is a plain text file containing break rules
 //    in the input format accepted by RuleBasedBreakIterators.  The
-//    file can be encoded as utf-8, or utf-16 (either endian), or
-//    in the default code page (platform dependent.).  utf encoded
-//    files must include a BOM.
+//    file can be encoded as UTF-8 or UTF-16 (either endian).  Files
+//    encoded as UTF-16 must include a BOM.
 //
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------