diff --git a/PowerEditor/src/ScitillaComponent/Buffer.cpp b/PowerEditor/src/ScitillaComponent/Buffer.cpp
index 9433d2d91..2935527d4 100644
--- a/PowerEditor/src/ScitillaComponent/Buffer.cpp
+++ b/PowerEditor/src/ScitillaComponent/Buffer.cpp
@@ -1467,6 +1467,11 @@ bool FileManager::loadFileData(Document doc, const TCHAR * filename, char* data,
 		NppParameters *pNppParamInst = NppParameters::getInstance();
 		const NewDocDefaultSettings & ndds = (pNppParamInst->getNppGUI()).getNewDocDefaultSettings(); // for ndds._format
 		eolFormat = ndds._format;
+		//for empty files, set the encoding to the default for new files
+		if (fileSize == 0)
+		{
+			encoding = ndds._unicodeMode;
+		}
 	}
 	else
 	{