diff --git a/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/CraftServer.java b/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/CraftServer.java
index b0c2156aa4..3be51746ee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/CraftServer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/CraftServer.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
@@ -76,8 +77,6 @@ import net.minecraft.server.EntityTracker;
 import net.minecraft.server.EnumDifficulty;
 import net.minecraft.server.EnumGamemode;
 import net.minecraft.server.ExceptionWorldConflict;
-import net.minecraft.server.GameProfileBanEntry;
-import net.minecraft.server.GameProfileBanList;
 import net.minecraft.server.Items;
 import net.minecraft.server.JsonListEntry;
 import net.minecraft.server.PlayerList;
@@ -144,7 +143,6 @@ import org.bukkit.craftbukkit.updater.BukkitDLUpdaterService;
 import org.bukkit.craftbukkit.util.CraftIconCache;
 import org.bukkit.craftbukkit.util.CraftMagicNumbers;
 import org.bukkit.craftbukkit.util.DatFileFilter;
-import org.bukkit.craftbukkit.util.MojangNameLookup;
 import org.bukkit.craftbukkit.util.Versioning;
 import org.bukkit.entity.Player;
 import org.bukkit.event.inventory.InventoryType;
@@ -263,7 +261,7 @@ public final class CraftServer implements Server {
 
         configuration = YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(getConfigFile());
         configuration.options().copyDefaults(true);
-        configuration.setDefaults(YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("configurations/bukkit.yml")));
+        configuration.setDefaults(YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(new InputStreamReader(getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("configurations/bukkit.yml"), Charsets.UTF_8)));
         ConfigurationSection legacyAlias = null;
         if (!configuration.isString("aliases")) {
             legacyAlias = configuration.getConfigurationSection("aliases");
@@ -275,7 +273,7 @@ public final class CraftServer implements Server {
         }
         commandsConfiguration = YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(getCommandsConfigFile());
         commandsConfiguration.options().copyDefaults(true);
-        commandsConfiguration.setDefaults(YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("configurations/commands.yml")));
+        commandsConfiguration.setDefaults(YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(new InputStreamReader(getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("configurations/commands.yml"), Charsets.UTF_8)));
         saveCommandsConfig();
 
         // Migrate aliases from old file and add previously implicit $1- to pass all arguments
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/help/HelpYamlReader.java b/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/help/HelpYamlReader.java
index 60b8cbc8a7..60a6221b4f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/help/HelpYamlReader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/help/HelpYamlReader.java
@@ -6,8 +6,11 @@ import org.bukkit.configuration.ConfigurationSection;
 import org.bukkit.configuration.file.YamlConfiguration;
 import org.bukkit.help.HelpTopic;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Charsets;
+
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
@@ -25,7 +28,7 @@ public class HelpYamlReader {
         this.server = server;
 
         File helpYamlFile = new File("help.yml");
-        YamlConfiguration defaultConfig = YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("configurations/help.yml"));
+        YamlConfiguration defaultConfig = YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(new InputStreamReader(getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("configurations/help.yml"), Charsets.UTF_8));
 
         try {
             helpYaml = YamlConfiguration.loadConfiguration(helpYamlFile);