diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DataWriter.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DataWriter.java
index 1fd7a72..902138f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DataWriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DataWriter.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
      */
     public DataWriter(OutputStream output) throws DataWriterException
     {
-        this(output, null);
+        this(output, "UTF-8");
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DatabaseIO.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DatabaseIO.java
index b8f0cfa..8103c77 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DatabaseIO.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/DatabaseIO.java
@@ -923,7 +923,12 @@
      */
     public void write(Database model, OutputStream output) throws DdlUtilsXMLException
     {
-        write(model, new OutputStreamWriter(output));
+        PrettyPrintingXmlWriter xmlWriter = new PrettyPrintingXmlWriter(output, "UTF-8");
+
+        xmlWriter.setDefaultNamespace(DDLUTILS_NAMESPACE);
+        xmlWriter.writeDocumentStart();
+        writeDatabaseElement(model, xmlWriter);
+        xmlWriter.writeDocumentEnd();
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/PrettyPrintingXmlWriter.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/PrettyPrintingXmlWriter.java
index c01bb26..df245c5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/PrettyPrintingXmlWriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/ddlutils/io/PrettyPrintingXmlWriter.java
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@
      */
     public PrettyPrintingXmlWriter(OutputStream output) throws DdlUtilsXMLException
     {
-        this(output, null);
+        this(output, "UTF-8");
     }
 
     /**