diff --git a/config/initializers/ruby_version_compat.rb b/config/initializers/ruby_version_compat.rb
index 825a4612248..495233e14c4 100644
--- a/config/initializers/ruby_version_compat.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/ruby_version_compat.rb
@@ -132,7 +132,7 @@ else
   # (which in canvas is utf-8)
   class ActiveSupport::SafeBuffer
     def initialize(*a)
-      super.force_encoding(Encoding.default_internal)
+      super.force_encoding('utf-8')
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/config/preinitializer.rb b/config/preinitializer.rb
index f808257cc36..ee33d0e654d 100644
--- a/config/preinitializer.rb
+++ b/config/preinitializer.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ begin
   # Set up load paths for all bundled gems
   ENV["BUNDLE_GEMFILE"] ||= File.expand_path("../../Gemfile", __FILE__)
   Bundler.setup
-  Encoding.default_internal = Encoding.default_external = 'UTF-8' if defined?(Encoding)
 rescue Bundler::GemNotFound
   raise RuntimeError, "Bundler couldn't find some gems." +
     "Did you run `bundle install`?"