diff --git a/CouchPotato.py b/CouchPotato.py
index afc46aa..85d885c 100755
--- a/CouchPotato.py
+++ b/CouchPotato.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ class Loader(object):
         self.log = CPLog(__name__)
 
         formatter = logging.Formatter('%(asctime)s %(levelname)s %(message)s', '%H:%M:%S')
-        hdlr = handlers.RotatingFileHandler(os.path.join(self.log_dir, 'error.log'), 'a', 500000, 10)
+        hdlr = handlers.RotatingFileHandler(os.path.join(self.log_dir, 'error.log'), 'a', 500000, 10, encoding = 'utf-8')
         hdlr.setLevel(logging.CRITICAL)
         hdlr.setFormatter(formatter)
         self.log.logger.addHandler(hdlr)
diff --git a/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py b/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py
index c65fe87..6c4faf8 100644
--- a/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py
+++ b/couchpotato/core/helpers/encoding.py
@@ -47,6 +47,17 @@ def toUnicode(original, *args):
         ascii_text = str(original).encode('string_escape')
         return toUnicode(ascii_text)
 
+def toUTF8(original):
+    try:
+        if isinstance(original, str) and len(original) > 0:
+            # Try to detect
+            detected = detect(original)
+            return original.decode(detected.get('encoding')).encode('utf-8')
+        else:
+            return original
+    except:
+        #log.error('Failed encoding to UTF8: %s', traceback.format_exc())
+        raise
 
 def ss(original, *args):
 
diff --git a/couchpotato/core/logger.py b/couchpotato/core/logger.py
index a1b5e7d..338dca6 100644
--- a/couchpotato/core/logger.py
+++ b/couchpotato/core/logger.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import logging
 import re
+import traceback
 
 
 class CPLog(object):
@@ -54,19 +55,19 @@ class CPLog(object):
 
     def safeMessage(self, msg, replace_tuple = ()):
 
-        from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import ss, toUnicode
+        from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import ss, toUTF8
 
-        msg = ss(msg)
+        msg = toUTF8(msg)
 
         try:
             if isinstance(replace_tuple, tuple):
-                msg = msg % tuple([ss(x) if not isinstance(x, (int, float)) else x for x in list(replace_tuple)])
+                msg = msg % tuple([toUTF8(x) for x in list(replace_tuple)])
             elif isinstance(replace_tuple, dict):
-                msg = msg % dict((k, ss(v)) for k, v in replace_tuple.iteritems())
+                msg = msg % dict((k, toUTF8(v)) for k, v in replace_tuple.iteritems())
             else:
-                msg = msg % ss(replace_tuple)
-        except Exception as e:
-            self.logger.error('Failed encoding stuff to log "%s": %s' % (msg, e))
+                msg = msg % toUTF8(replace_tuple)
+        except:
+            self.logger.error('Failed encoding stuff to log "%s": %s' % (msg, traceback.format_exc()))
 
         self.setup()
         if not self.is_develop:
@@ -83,4 +84,4 @@ class CPLog(object):
             except:
                 pass
 
-        return toUnicode(msg)
+        return toUTF8(msg)
diff --git a/couchpotato/core/plugins/log/main.py b/couchpotato/core/plugins/log/main.py
index 003529b..ca1e54e 100644
--- a/couchpotato/core/plugins/log/main.py
+++ b/couchpotato/core/plugins/log/main.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
+import codecs
 import os
 import re
 import traceback
 
 from couchpotato.api import addApiView
-from couchpotato.core.helpers.encoding import toUnicode
 from couchpotato.core.helpers.variable import tryInt, splitString
 from couchpotato.core.logger import CPLog
 from couchpotato.core.plugins.base import Plugin
@@ -103,9 +103,8 @@ class Logging(Plugin):
             if not os.path.isfile(path):
                 break
 
-            f = open(path, 'r')
-            log_content = toUnicode(f.read())
-            raw_lines = self.toList(log_content)
+            f = codecs.open(path, 'r', 'utf-8')
+            raw_lines = self.toList(f.read())
             raw_lines.reverse()
 
             brk = False
@@ -131,7 +130,7 @@ class Logging(Plugin):
 
     def toList(self, log_content = ''):
 
-        logs_raw = toUnicode(log_content).split('[0m\n')
+        logs_raw = log_content.split('[0m\n')
 
         logs = []
         for log_line in logs_raw:
diff --git a/couchpotato/runner.py b/couchpotato/runner.py
index 36fc366..93958ba 100644
--- a/couchpotato/runner.py
+++ b/couchpotato/runner.py
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ def runCouchPotato(options, base_path, args, data_dir = None, log_dir = None, En
         logger.addHandler(hdlr)
 
     # To file
-    hdlr2 = handlers.RotatingFileHandler(Env.get('log_path'), 'a', 500000, 10, encoding = Env.get('encoding'))
+    hdlr2 = handlers.RotatingFileHandler(Env.get('log_path'), 'a', 500000, 10, encoding = 'utf-8')
     hdlr2.setFormatter(formatter)
     logger.addHandler(hdlr2)