diff --git a/lib/node-http-proxy/http-proxy.js b/lib/node-http-proxy/http-proxy.js
index 4a84b58..ebc29a5 100644
--- a/lib/node-http-proxy/http-proxy.js
+++ b/lib/node-http-proxy/http-proxy.js
@@ -452,9 +452,6 @@ HttpProxy.prototype.proxyWebSocketRequest = function (req, socket, head, buffer)
         socket.pair.cleartext.socket.setKeepAlive(true, 0);
       }
     }
-    else {
-      socket.setEncoding('utf8');
-    }
   }
 
   //