diff --git a/metafacture-xml/src/main/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoder.java b/metafacture-xml/src/main/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoder.java
index 61ca0ee4..688d4014 100644
--- a/metafacture-xml/src/main/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoder.java
+++ b/metafacture-xml/src/main/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoder.java
@@ -29,12 +29,11 @@
 import org.metafacture.framework.helpers.DefaultXmlPipe;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.StringReader;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
-import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Map.Entry;
@@ -70,6 +69,7 @@ public final class SimpleXmlEncoder extends DefaultStreamPipe<ObjectReceiver<Str
 
     private static final String XML_HEADER = "<?xml version=\"%s\" encoding=\"%s\"?>\n";
     private static final String XMLNS_MARKER = " xmlns";
+    private static final String DEFAULT = "_default";
 
     private final StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
 
@@ -143,9 +143,7 @@ public void setNamespaceFile(final String file) {
         catch (final IOException e) {
             throw new MetafactureException("Failed to load namespaces list", e);
         }
-        for (final Entry<Object, Object> entry : properties.entrySet()) {
-            namespaces.put(entry.getKey().toString(), entry.getValue().toString());
-        }
+        propertiesToMap(properties);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -161,9 +159,7 @@ public void setNamespaceFile(final URL url) {
         catch (final IOException e) {
             throw new MetafactureException("Failed to load namespaces list", e);
         }
-        for (final Entry<Object, Object> entry : properties.entrySet()) {
-            namespaces.put(entry.getKey().toString(), entry.getValue().toString());
-        }
+        propertiesToMap(properties);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -223,15 +219,24 @@ public void setNamespaces(final Map<String, String> namespaces) {
     /**
      * Sets the namespace(s).
      *
-     * @param namespacesString the namespaces as a String. Key and value are separated by a space. Multiple entries are
-     *                       separated by a semicolon ';'
+     * @param namespacesString the namespaces as a String. Key and value are separated by a '='. Multiple entries are
+     *                       separated by a line feed '\n'.
      */
     public void setNamespaces(final String namespacesString) {
-        final String[] namespacesArray = namespacesString.split(";");
-        for (Iterator<String> it = Arrays.stream(namespacesArray).iterator(); it.hasNext(); ) {
-            final String[] entry = it.next().split(" ");
-            namespaces.put(entry[0], entry[1]);
+        final Properties properties = new Properties();
+        final StringReader sr = new StringReader(namespacesString);
+        try {
+            properties.load(sr);
+        }
+        catch (final IOException e) {
+            throw new MetafactureException("Failed to create namespace list");
         }
+        finally {
+            if (sr != null) {
+                sr.close();
+            }
+        }
+        propertiesToMap(properties);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -272,7 +277,7 @@ else if (atStreamStart) {
     private void addNamespacesToElement() {
         for (final Entry<String, String> namespace : namespaces.entrySet()) {
             final String key = namespace.getKey();
-            final String name = XMLNS_MARKER + (key.isEmpty() ? "" : ":") + key;
+            final String name = XMLNS_MARKER + (isDefaultNamespace(key) ? "" : ":" + key);
             element.addAttribute(name, namespace.getValue());
         }
     }
@@ -342,7 +347,7 @@ private void writeHeader() {
             builder.append(rootTag);
             for (final Entry<String, String> entry : namespaces.entrySet()) {
                 builder.append(XMLNS_MARKER);
-                if (!entry.getKey().isEmpty()) {
+                if (!isDefaultNamespace(entry.getKey())) {
                     builder.append(':');
                     builder.append(entry.getKey());
                 }
@@ -367,6 +372,16 @@ protected static void writeEscaped(final StringBuilder builder, final String str
         builder.append(XmlUtil.escape(str, false));
     }
 
+    private boolean isDefaultNamespace(final String ns) {
+        return ns.isEmpty() || ns.equals(DEFAULT);
+    }
+
+    private void propertiesToMap(final Properties properties) {
+        for (final Entry<Object, Object> entry : properties.entrySet()) {
+            namespaces.put(entry.getKey().toString(), entry.getValue().toString());
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * An XML element.
      *
diff --git a/metafacture-xml/src/test/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoderTest.java b/metafacture-xml/src/test/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoderTest.java
index ac18c022..f356d25d 100644
--- a/metafacture-xml/src/test/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoderTest.java
+++ b/metafacture-xml/src/test/java/org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoderTest.java
@@ -114,13 +114,11 @@ public void shouldAddNamespaceToRootElement() {
 
     @Test
     public void shouldAddMultipleNamespacesFromParameterToRootElement() {
-        final Map<String, String> namespaces = new HashMap<String, String>();
-        namespaces.put("ns", "http://example.org/ns");
-        simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaces("ns http://example.org/ns;ns1 http://example.org/ns1");
+        simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaces("_default=http://default.org/ns\nns=http://example.org/ns\nns1=http://example.org/ns1");
 
         emitEmptyRecord();
 
-        assertEquals("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><records xmlns:ns=\"http://example.org/ns\" xmlns:ns1=\"http://example.org/ns1\"><record /></records>",
+        assertEquals("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><records xmlns=\"http://default.org/ns\" xmlns:ns=\"http://example.org/ns\" xmlns:ns1=\"http://example.org/ns1\"><record /></records>",
                 getResultXml());
     }
     @Test
@@ -135,6 +133,18 @@ public void shouldAddNamespaceWithEmptyKeyAsDefaultNamespaceToRootTag() {
                 getResultXml());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void shouldAddNamespaceWithDefaultKeyAsDefaultNamespaceToRootTag() {
+        final Map<String, String> namespaces = new HashMap<String, String>();
+        namespaces.put("_default", "http://example.org/ns");
+        simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaces(namespaces);
+
+        emitEmptyRecord();
+
+        assertEquals("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><records xmlns=\"http://example.org/ns\"><record /></records>",
+                getResultXml());
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void shouldAddNamespaceWithEmptyKeyFromPropertiesFileAsDefaultNamespaceToRootTag() {
         simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaceFile("org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoderTest_namespaces.properties");
@@ -181,6 +191,19 @@ public void shouldAddNamespaceWithEmptyKeyAsDefaultNamespaceToRecordTag() {
                 getResultXml());
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void shouldAddNamespaceWithDefaultKeyAsDefaultNamespaceToRecordTag() {
+        final Map<String, String> namespaces = new HashMap<String, String>();
+        namespaces.put("_default", "http://example.org/ns");
+        simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaces(namespaces);
+        simpleXmlEncoder.setWriteRootTag(false);
+
+        emitEmptyRecord();
+
+        assertEquals("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><record  xmlns=\"http://example.org/ns\" />",
+                getResultXml());
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void shouldAddNamespaceWithEmptyKeyFromPropertiesFileAsDefaultNamespaceToRecordTag() {
         simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaceFile("org/metafacture/xml/SimpleXmlEncoderTest_namespaces.properties");
@@ -193,7 +216,7 @@ public void shouldAddNamespaceWithEmptyKeyFromPropertiesFileAsDefaultNamespaceTo
     }
     @Test
     public void shouldAddNamespaceWithEmptyKeyFromParameterAsDefaultNamespaceToRecordTag() {
-        simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaces(" http://example.org/ns");
+        simpleXmlEncoder.setNamespaces("=http://example.org/ns");
         simpleXmlEncoder.setWriteRootTag(false);
 
         emitEmptyRecord();