diff --git a/lib/client.js b/lib/client.js
index d0052604..107377c7 100644
--- a/lib/client.js
+++ b/lib/client.js
@@ -40,11 +40,11 @@ var Client = function (config) {
   this.connection = c.connection || new Connection({
     stream: c.stream,
     ssl: this.connectionParameters.ssl,
-    keepAlive: c.keepAlive || false
+    keepAlive: c.keepAlive || false,
+    encoding: this.connectionParameters.client_encoding || 'utf8'
   })
   this.queryQueue = []
   this.binary = c.binary || defaults.binary
-  this.encoding = 'utf8'
   this.processID = null
   this.secretKey = null
   this.ssl = this.connectionParameters.ssl || false
diff --git a/lib/connection.js b/lib/connection.js
index 2f13803e..0f98cb06 100644
--- a/lib/connection.js
+++ b/lib/connection.js
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ var Connection = function (config) {
   this.lastOffset = 0
   this.buffer = null
   this.offset = null
-  this.encoding = 'utf8'
+  this.encoding = config.encoding || 'utf8'
   this.parsedStatements = {}
   this.writer = new Writer()
   this.ssl = config.ssl || false