diff --git a/src/common/utils.cc b/src/common/utils.cc
index f27ced15..ccc6a8f2 100644
--- a/src/common/utils.cc
+++ b/src/common/utils.cc
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ QString unescapeAmps( QString const & str )
   return result;
 }
 
-QTextCodec::Encoding detectEncoding( QByteArray & ba, char16_t expectedFirstCharacter = 0 )
+QTextCodec::Encoding detectCodec( QByteArray & ba, char16_t expectedFirstCharacter = 0 )
 {
   QStringConverter::Encoding detectedEncoding = QStringConverter::encodingForData( data, expectedFirstCharacter );
   // mapping the encoding
@@ -58,6 +58,17 @@ QTextCodec::Encoding detectEncoding( QByteArray & ba, char16_t expectedFirstChar
   // default utf8
   return QTextCodec::Utf8;
 }
+
+QStringConverter::Encoding detectEncoding( QByteArray & ba, char16_t expectedFirstCharacter = 0 )
+{
+  QStringConverter::Encoding detectedEncoding = QStringConverter::encodingForData( data, expectedFirstCharacter );
+  // mapping the encoding
+  if ( detectedEncoding.has_value() ) {
+    return detectedEncoding.value();
+  }
+  // default utf8
+  return QStringConverter::Utf8;
+}
 } // namespace Utils
 
 QString Utils::Path::combine( const QString & path1, const QString & path2 )
diff --git a/src/common/utils.hh b/src/common/utils.hh
index 8f014ce3..5d62166f 100644
--- a/src/common/utils.hh
+++ b/src/common/utils.hh
@@ -371,6 +371,7 @@ const QMap< QStringConverter::Encoding, QTextCodec::Encoding > encodingMap = {
 };
 }
 
-QTextCodec::Encoding detectEncoding( QByteArray & ba, char16_t expectedFirstCharacter = 0 );
+QTextCodec::Encoding detectCodec( QByteArray & ba, char16_t expectedFirstCharacter = 0 );
+QStringConverter::Encoding detectEncoding( QByteArray & ba, char16_t expectedFirstCharacter = 0 );
 
 } // namespace Utils
diff --git a/src/dict/dsl.cc b/src/dict/dsl.cc
index caebf7b6..c91101ae 100644
--- a/src/dict/dsl.cc
+++ b/src/dict/dsl.cc
@@ -1042,8 +1042,8 @@ QString const & DslDictionary::getDescription()
     QString data, str;
 
     str = annStream.readLine();
-    auto codec = Utils::detectEncoding( str );
-    annStream.setCodec( codec );
+    auto encoding = Utils::detectEncoding( str );
+    annStream.setEncoding( encoding );
 
     if ( str.left( 10 ).compare( "#LANGUAGE " ) != 0 ) {
       annStream.seek( 0 );
diff --git a/src/dict/dsl_details.cc b/src/dict/dsl_details.cc
index 3ab8a718..8afd4fe2 100644
--- a/src/dict/dsl_details.cc
+++ b/src/dict/dsl_details.cc
@@ -873,7 +873,7 @@ DslScanner::DslScanner( string const & fileName ):
 
   // Note that .dsl format always starts with "#NAME"
 
-  codec = Utils::detectEncoding( { firstBytes, firstBytesSize }, '#' );
+  codec = Utils::detectCodec( { firstBytes, firstBytesSize }, '#' );
 
   qDebug() << "DSL encoding ->" << codec->name();