diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0a563d3..8944ff0 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -51,4 +51,5 @@ def read(filename):
         irclogsearch = irclog2html.irclogsearch:main
     """,
     zip_safe=False,
+    install_requires=['chardet'],
 )
diff --git a/src/irclog2html/irclog2html.py b/src/irclog2html/irclog2html.py
index a40cb4e..13919f9 100755
--- a/src/irclog2html/irclog2html.py
+++ b/src/irclog2html/irclog2html.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 was written by Jeff Waugh and is available at www.perkypants.org
 """
 
-# Copyright (c) 2005--2013, Marius Gedminas 
+# Copyright (c) 2005--2013, Marius Gedminas
 # Copyright (c) 2000, Jeffrey W. Waugh
 
 # Python port:
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 import shlex
 import shutil
 import sys
+import chardet
 
 try:
     from urllib import quote
@@ -138,10 +139,9 @@ def decode(self, s):
         if isinstance(s, unicode):
             # Accept input that's already Unicode, for convenience
             return s
-        try:
-            return s.decode('UTF-8')
-        except UnicodeError:
-            return s.decode('cp1252', 'replace')
+        else:
+            charset = chardet.detect(s)['encoding']
+            return s.decode(charset, 'replace')
 
     def __iter__(self):
         for line in self.infile: