diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/HttpServer/SocketSharp/SharpWebSocket.cs b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/HttpServer/SocketSharp/SharpWebSocket.cs
index 9faf2bc473..8ab8b02151 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/HttpServer/SocketSharp/SharpWebSocket.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/HttpServer/SocketSharp/SharpWebSocket.cs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 using MediaBrowser.Controller.Net;
 using MediaBrowser.Model.Logging;
 using System;
+using System.IO;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using WebSocketState = MediaBrowser.Model.Net.WebSocketState;
@@ -149,7 +150,7 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.HttpServer.SocketSharp
                 WebSocket.OnMessage -= socket_OnMessage;
                 WebSocket.OnClose -= socket_OnClose;
                 WebSocket.OnError -= socket_OnError;
-                
+
                 _cancellationTokenSource.Cancel();
 
                 WebSocket.Close();
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.csproj b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.csproj
index 81b47daff0..923e57b9b3 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.csproj
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.csproj
@@ -98,6 +98,9 @@
     <Reference Include="ServiceStack.Text">
       <HintPath>..\ThirdParty\ServiceStack.Text\ServiceStack.Text.dll</HintPath>
     </Reference>
+    <Reference Include="UniversalDetector">
+      <HintPath>..\ThirdParty\UniversalDetector\UniversalDetector.dll</HintPath>
+    </Reference>
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Include="..\SharedVersion.cs">
diff --git a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/ServerManager/WebSocketConnection.cs b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/ServerManager/WebSocketConnection.cs
index 738e82bd02..44d8cc4371 100644
--- a/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/ServerManager/WebSocketConnection.cs
+++ b/MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations/ServerManager/WebSocketConnection.cs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-using MediaBrowser.Common.Events;
+using System.Text;
+using MediaBrowser.Common.Events;
 using MediaBrowser.Controller.Net;
 using MediaBrowser.Model.Logging;
 using MediaBrowser.Model.Net;
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ using System.Collections.Specialized;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using UniversalDetector;
 
 namespace MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.ServerManager
 {
@@ -132,28 +134,43 @@ namespace MediaBrowser.Server.Implementations.ServerManager
             {
                 return;
             }
+            var charset = DetectCharset(bytes);
+
+            if (string.Equals(charset, "utf-8", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+            {
+                OnReceiveInternal(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes));
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                OnReceiveInternal(Encoding.ASCII.GetString(bytes));
+            }
+        }
+        private string DetectCharset(byte[] bytes)
+        {
             try
             {
-                //_logger.Debug(Encoding.UTF8.GetString(bytes));
-                using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream(bytes))
+                using (var ms = new MemoryStream(bytes))
                 {
-                    var info = (WebSocketMessageInfo)_jsonSerializer.DeserializeFromStream(memoryStream, typeof(WebSocketMessageInfo));
+                    var detector = new CharsetDetector();
+                    detector.Feed(ms);
+                    detector.DataEnd();
 
-                    //info = new WebSocketMessageInfo
-                    //{
-                    //    MessageType = stub.MessageType,
-                    //    Data = stub.Data == null ? null : stub.Data.ToString()
-                    //};
-                    info.Connection = this;
+                    var charset = detector.Charset;
 
-                    OnReceive(info);
-                }
+                    if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(charset))
+                    {
+                        //_logger.Debug("UniversalDetector detected charset {0}", charset);
+                    }
 
+                    return charset;
+                }
             }
-            catch (Exception ex)
+            catch (IOException ex)
             {
-                _logger.ErrorException("Error processing web socket message", ex);
+                _logger.ErrorException("Error attempting to determine web socket message charset", ex);
             }
+
+            return null;
         }
 
         private void OnReceiveInternal(string message)