diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 01983da..7fba771 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 plugins {
     id 'net.researchgate.release' version '2.3.3'
+    id "net.ltgt.errorprone" version "0.0.10"
 }
 
 group 'com.shekhargulati'
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ apply plugin: 'maven-publish'
 apply plugin: 'signing'
 apply plugin: "jacoco"
 apply from: rootProject.file('gradle/checkstyle.gradle')
+apply plugin: "net.ltgt.errorprone"
 
 sourceCompatibility = 1.8
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/strman/Strman.java b/src/main/java/strman/Strman.java
index 63fe20d..0712b11 100644
--- a/src/main/java/strman/Strman.java
+++ b/src/main/java/strman/Strman.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 
 package strman;
 
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.*;
 import java.util.function.Predicate;
 import java.util.function.Supplier;
@@ -324,7 +325,7 @@ public abstract class Strman {
      */
     public static String base64Decode(final String value) {
         validate(value, NULL_STRING_PREDICATE, NULL_STRING_MSG_SUPPLIER);
-        return new String(Base64.getDecoder().decode(value));
+        return new String(Base64.getDecoder().decode(value), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -335,7 +336,7 @@ public abstract class Strman {
      */
     public static String base64Encode(final String value) {
         validate(value, NULL_STRING_PREDICATE, NULL_STRING_MSG_SUPPLIER);
-        return Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(value.getBytes());
+        return Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(value.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
     }
 
     /**