diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 26e1769..851bf4a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ In addition to the fields, the object contains two special keys:
 * @sequenceNumber `Number` indicates the order in which it was extracted
 * @deleted `Boolean` whether this record has been deleted or not
 
+Each field is parsed using the `utf-8` encoding. If you want a different encoding, you should initialize the Parser with that encoding:
+
+    new Parser('/path/to/my/dbase/file.dbf', 'win1252');
+
 This object may look like:
 
     {
diff --git a/lib/parser.js b/lib/parser.js
index 28edbbe..423a362 100644
--- a/lib/parser.js
+++ b/lib/parser.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.3.3
+// Generated by CoffeeScript 1.7.1
 (function() {
-  var EventEmitter, Header, Parser, fs,
+  var EventEmitter, Header, Parser, fs, iconv,
     __bind = function(fn, me){ return function(){ return fn.apply(me, arguments); }; },
     __hasProp = {}.hasOwnProperty,
     __extends = function(child, parent) { for (var key in parent) { if (__hasProp.call(parent, key)) child[key] = parent[key]; } function ctor() { this.constructor = child; } ctor.prototype = parent.prototype; child.prototype = new ctor(); child.__super__ = parent.prototype; return child; };
@@ -11,55 +11,56 @@
 
   fs = require('fs');
 
-  Parser = (function(_super) {
+  iconv = require('iconv-lite');
 
+  Parser = (function(_super) {
     __extends(Parser, _super);
 
-    function Parser(filename) {
+    function Parser(filename, encoding) {
       this.filename = filename;
+      this.encoding = encoding;
       this.parseField = __bind(this.parseField, this);
-
       this.parseRecord = __bind(this.parseRecord, this);
-
       this.parse = __bind(this.parse, this);
-
     }
 
     Parser.prototype.parse = function() {
-      var _this = this;
       this.emit('start', this);
       this.header = new Header(this.filename);
-      this.header.parse(function(err) {
-        var sequenceNumber;
-        _this.emit('header', _this.header);
-        sequenceNumber = 0;
-        return fs.readFile(_this.filename, function(err, buffer) {
-          var loc;
-          if (err) {
-            throw err;
-          }
-          loc = _this.header.start;
-          while (loc < (_this.header.start + _this.header.numberOfRecords * _this.header.recordLength) && loc < buffer.length) {
-            _this.emit('record', _this.parseRecord(++sequenceNumber, buffer.slice(loc, loc += _this.header.recordLength)));
-          }
-          return _this.emit('end', _this);
-        });
-      });
+      this.header.parse((function(_this) {
+        return function(err) {
+          var sequenceNumber;
+          _this.emit('header', _this.header);
+          sequenceNumber = 0;
+          return fs.readFile(_this.filename, function(err, buffer) {
+            var loc;
+            if (err) {
+              throw err;
+            }
+            loc = _this.header.start;
+            while (loc < (_this.header.start + _this.header.numberOfRecords * _this.header.recordLength) && loc < buffer.length) {
+              _this.emit('record', _this.parseRecord(++sequenceNumber, buffer.slice(loc, loc += _this.header.recordLength)));
+            }
+            return _this.emit('end', _this);
+          });
+        };
+      })(this));
       return this;
     };
 
     Parser.prototype.parseRecord = function(sequenceNumber, buffer) {
-      var field, loc, record, _fn, _i, _len, _ref,
-        _this = this;
+      var field, loc, record, _fn, _i, _len, _ref;
       record = {
         '@sequenceNumber': sequenceNumber,
         '@deleted': (buffer.slice(0, 1))[0] !== 32
       };
       loc = 1;
       _ref = this.header.fields;
-      _fn = function(field) {
-        return record[field.name] = _this.parseField(field, buffer.slice(loc, loc += field.length));
-      };
+      _fn = (function(_this) {
+        return function(field) {
+          return record[field.name] = _this.parseField(field, buffer.slice(loc, loc += field.length));
+        };
+      })(this);
       for (_i = 0, _len = _ref.length; _i < _len; _i++) {
         field = _ref[_i];
         _fn(field);
@@ -68,8 +69,12 @@
     };
 
     Parser.prototype.parseField = function(field, buffer) {
-      var value;
-      value = (buffer.toString('utf-8')).replace(/^\x20+|\x20+$/g, '');
+      var encoding, value;
+      encoding = 'utf-8';
+      if (this.encoding) {
+        encoding = this.encoding;
+      }
+      value = iconv.decode(buffer, encoding).replace(/^\x20+|\x20+$/g, '');
       if (field.type === 'N') {
         value = parseInt(value, 10);
       }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index eab1925..8e49466 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "node-dbf",
-  "version": "0.1.0",
+  "version": "0.1.1",
   "description": "An efficient dBase DBF file parser written in pure JavaScript",
   "main": "./lib/parser.js",
   "repository": {
@@ -17,5 +17,8 @@
   },
   "scripts": {
     "prepublish": "cake build"
+  },
+  "dependencies": {
+    "iconv-lite": "~0.2.11"
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/src/parser.coffee b/src/parser.coffee
index 61ec67d..13685a6 100644
--- a/src/parser.coffee
+++ b/src/parser.coffee
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 {EventEmitter} = require 'events'
 Header = require './header'
 fs = require 'fs'
+iconv = require 'iconv-lite'
+
 
 class Parser extends EventEmitter
 
-    constructor: (@filename) ->
+    constructor: (@filename, @encoding) ->
 
     parse: =>
         @emit 'start', @
@@ -41,7 +43,10 @@ class Parser extends EventEmitter
         return record
 
     parseField: (field, buffer) =>
-        value = (buffer.toString 'utf-8').replace /^\x20+|\x20+$/g, ''
+        encoding = 'utf-8'
+        encoding = @encoding if @encoding
+
+        value = iconv.decode(buffer, encoding).replace /^\x20+|\x20+$/g, ''
 
         if field.type is 'N' then value = parseInt value, 10