diff --git a/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py b/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py
index 5c6b94ec..f71c9cd2 100644
--- a/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py
+++ b/magicbus/plugins/loggers.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 from magicbus.compat import ntob, unicodestr
 import datetime
 import sys
+
 from magicbus.plugins import SimplePlugin
 
 
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ def __init__(self, bus, level=None, format=None, encoding=None):
 class FileLogger(StreamLogger):
 
     def __init__(self, bus, filename=None, file=None,
-                 level=None, format=None, encoding='utf-8'):
+                 level=None, format=None, encoding='utf8'):
         self.filename = filename
         if file is None:
             if filename is None: