diff --git a/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/GenericReplayCharSequence.java b/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/GenericReplayCharSequence.java
index b1fc88fd..11a4c380 100644
--- a/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/GenericReplayCharSequence.java
+++ b/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/GenericReplayCharSequence.java
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ public class GenericReplayCharSequence implements ReplayCharSequence {
         } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
             logger.log(Level.WARNING,"charset problem: "+charsetName,e);
             // TODO: better detection or default
-            charset = Charset.forName("UTF-8");
+            charset = Charset.forName(FALLBACK_CHARSET_NAME);
         }
         if (charset.newEncoder().maxBytesPerChar() == 1.0) {
             logger.info("charset=" + charsetName
diff --git a/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/InMemoryReplayCharSequence.java b/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/InMemoryReplayCharSequence.java
index 620100b6..3c6cb233 100644
--- a/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/InMemoryReplayCharSequence.java
+++ b/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/InMemoryReplayCharSequence.java
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ public class InMemoryReplayCharSequence implements ReplayCharSequence {
         } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
             logger.log(Level.WARNING,"charset problem: "+encoding,e);
             // TODO: better detection or default
-            charset = Charset.forName("UTF-8");
+            charset = Charset.forName(FALLBACK_CHARSET_NAME);
         }
         return charset.decode(bb).asReadOnlyBuffer();
     }
diff --git a/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/ReplayCharSequence.java b/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/ReplayCharSequence.java
index 38d975eb..162b4734 100644
--- a/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/ReplayCharSequence.java
+++ b/commons/src/main/java/org/archive/io/ReplayCharSequence.java
@@ -37,6 +37,11 @@ import java.io.IOException;
  */
 public interface ReplayCharSequence extends CharSequence, Closeable {
 
+    /** charset to use in replay when declared value 
+     * is absent/illegal/unavailable */
+    String FALLBACK_CHARSET_NAME = "UTF-8";
+//    String FALLBACK_CHARSET_NAME = "ISO8859_1";
+    
     /**
      * Call this method when done so implementation has chance to clean up
      * resources.