diff --git a/owner/src/main/java/org/aeonbits/owner/loaders/PropertiesLoader.java b/owner/src/main/java/org/aeonbits/owner/loaders/PropertiesLoader.java
index a3b3c79f..c667f895 100644
--- a/owner/src/main/java/org/aeonbits/owner/loaders/PropertiesLoader.java
+++ b/owner/src/main/java/org/aeonbits/owner/loaders/PropertiesLoader.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.Properties;
 
@@ -22,13 +23,14 @@
 public class PropertiesLoader implements Loader {
 
     private static final long serialVersionUID = -1781643040589572341L;
+    private static final String DEFAULT_ENCODING = "UTF-8";
 
     public boolean accept(URL url) {
         return true;
     }
 
     public void load(Properties result, InputStream input) throws IOException {
-        result.load(input);
+        result.load(new InputStreamReader(input, DEFAULT_ENCODING));
     }
 
     public String defaultSpecFor(String urlPrefix) {