diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 054d3c0..13b0f32 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,7 +29,11 @@ extension for such files):
     (setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.pro$" . chordpro-mode) auto-mode-alist))
     (autoload 'chordpro-mode "chordpro-mode")
 
-Now when you visit a .pro file you should automatically get chordpro-mode.
+Now when you visit a .pro file you should automatically get
+chordpro-mode. The file will automatically be saved in latin-1
+encoding (you can change this by setting the chordpro-file-encoding
+variable in your .emacs, but you probably shouldn't as Chordii
+currently expects latin-1 encoded files).
 
 Some of the functions use dropdown-list.el, which can be installed
 with package-list-packages in modern emacs. If you don't have this
@@ -39,7 +43,7 @@ installed they'll just do nothing.
 
 ### Keyboard ###
 
-All of the keyboard commands use the Ctrl-c prefix.
+Most of the keyboard commands use the Ctrl-c prefix.
 
 * Ctrl-c i : Insert a chord at the point. You'll be prompted for the
   chord name in the minibuffer. The brackets will automatically be
diff --git a/chordpro-mode.el b/chordpro-mode.el
index 88d9fc7..9944d25 100644
--- a/chordpro-mode.el
+++ b/chordpro-mode.el
@@ -7,12 +7,15 @@
      ("\\({subtitle[^}]*}\\)" . font-lock-type-face)
      ("\\({title[^}]*}\\)" . font-lock-keyword-face)
      ("\\({[^}]*}\\)" . font-lock-variable-name-face))))
+
+(defvar chordpro-file-encoding 'latin-1)
        
 (define-derived-mode chordpro-mode text-mode "Chordpro"
   "Major mode for editing Chordpro files.
 Special commands:
 \\{chordpro-mode-map}"
   (setq font-lock-defaults chordpro-font-lock-defaults)
+  (setq buffer-file-coding-system chordpro-file-encoding)
   (auto-fill-mode -1))
 
 (define-key chordpro-mode-map "\C-ci" 'chordpro-insert-chord)