diff --git a/plugins/String/plugin.py b/plugins/String/plugin.py
index 6d0073529..ccc6496ec 100644
--- a/plugins/String/plugin.py
+++ b/plugins/String/plugin.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ class String(callbacks.Plugin):
         <http://docs.python.org/library/codecs.html#standard-encodings>.
         """
         try:
-            irc.reply(text.decode(encoding).encode('utf-8'))
+            irc.reply(text.decode(encoding))
         except LookupError:
             irc.errorInvalid(_('encoding'), encoding)
         except binascii.Error: