diff --git a/gpgmymail b/gpgmymail
index 1125fe0..721cc6a 100755
--- a/gpgmymail
+++ b/gpgmymail
@@ -38,6 +38,9 @@ import typing
 # see: https://gnupg.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
 import gnupg
 
+# constants
+ENCODING='utf-8'  # default is latin-1 which fails w some unicode chars
+
 def is_message_encrypted(message: email.message.Message) -> bool:
     """Determines whether or not an email message is encrypted.
 
@@ -69,7 +72,7 @@ def encrypt(
         return message.as_string()
     
     gpg = gnupg.GPG()
-    # gpg.encoding = 'utf-8'  # default is latin-1 which fails w some unicode chars
+    gpg.encoding = ENCODING
     encrypted_content = gpg.encrypt(message.as_string(), recipients, armor=True)
     if not encrypted_content:
         raise ValueError(encrypted_content.status)
@@ -108,7 +111,9 @@ def encrypt(
 def decrypt(message: email.message.Message) -> str:
     """Decrypt the given message
     Likely won't work on this server as I don't store private keys"""
-    return str(gnupg.GPG().decrypt(message.as_string()))
+    gpg = gnupg.GPG()
+    gpg.encoding = ENCODING
+    return str(gpg.decrypt(message.as_string()))
 
 def main() -> None:
     """Program entry"""