diff --git a/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1879.v2.yml b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1879.v2.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fd47afa20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/@unreleased/pr-1879.v2.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+type: improvement
+improvement:
+  description: JavaDoc uses UTF-8 encoding by default
+  links:
+  - https://github.com/palantir/gradle-baseline/pull/1879
diff --git a/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineEncoding.java b/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineEncoding.java
index d7806cba5..b049d2591 100644
--- a/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineEncoding.java
+++ b/gradle-baseline-java/src/main/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/plugins/BaselineEncoding.java
@@ -19,13 +19,17 @@
 import org.gradle.api.Plugin;
 import org.gradle.api.Project;
 import org.gradle.api.tasks.compile.JavaCompile;
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.javadoc.Javadoc;
 
 public final class BaselineEncoding implements Plugin<Project> {
 
     @Override
     public void apply(Project project) {
-        project.getTasks().withType(JavaCompile.class).configureEach(javaCompileTask -> {
-            javaCompileTask.getOptions().setEncoding("UTF-8");
-        });
+        project.getTasks()
+                .withType(JavaCompile.class)
+                .configureEach(javaCompileTask -> javaCompileTask.getOptions().setEncoding("UTF-8"));
+        project.getTasks()
+                .withType(Javadoc.class)
+                .configureEach(javadocTask -> javadocTask.getOptions().setEncoding("UTF-8"));
     }
 }
diff --git a/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineEncodingIntegrationTest.groovy b/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineEncodingIntegrationTest.groovy
index 94bde79fc..0c67645ff 100644
--- a/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineEncodingIntegrationTest.groovy
+++ b/gradle-baseline-java/src/test/groovy/com/palantir/baseline/BaselineEncodingIntegrationTest.groovy
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ class BaselineEncodingIntegrationTest extends AbstractPluginTest {
 
     def javaFile = '''
         package test;
+
+        /**
+         * Test source file encoding with UTF-8 ☃ Javadoc.
+         */
         public class Test {
             private static final String VALUE = "•";
         }