diff --git a/thunderbirdparser/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/thunderbirdparser/VcardParser.java b/thunderbirdparser/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/thunderbirdparser/VcardParser.java
index fad1afdeb9..a0c62cec5a 100755
--- a/thunderbirdparser/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/thunderbirdparser/VcardParser.java
+++ b/thunderbirdparser/src/org/sleuthkit/autopsy/thunderbirdparser/VcardParser.java
@@ -27,9 +27,12 @@ import ezvcard.property.Organization;
 import ezvcard.property.Photo;
 import ezvcard.property.Telephone;
 import ezvcard.property.Url;
+import java.io.BufferedInputStream;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStreamReader;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -144,7 +147,7 @@ final class VcardParser {
      * @throws NoCurrentCaseException If there is no open case.
      */
     void parse(AbstractFile abstractFile) throws IOException, NoCurrentCaseException {
-        for (VCard vcard: Ezvcard.parse(new ReadContentInputStream(abstractFile)).all()) {
+        for (VCard vcard: Ezvcard.parse(new InputStreamReader(new BufferedInputStream(new ReadContentInputStream(abstractFile)), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)).all()) {
             addContactArtifact(vcard, abstractFile);
         }
     }