diff --git a/os/fmem.c b/os/fmem.c
index e0e1b2434..3ad38b9c6 100644
--- a/os/fmem.c
+++ b/os/fmem.c
@@ -138,7 +138,8 @@ int Yap_open_buf_read_stream(const char *buf, size_t nchars, encoding_t *encp,
 
   sno = GetFreeStreamD();
   if (sno < 0)
-    return (PlIOError(RESOURCE_ERROR_MAX_STREAMS, TermNil,
+    return (PlIOError(RESOURCE_ERROR_MAX_STREAMS,
+                      TermNil,
                       "new stream not available for open_mem_read_stream/1"));
   st = GLOBAL_Stream + sno;
   if (encp)
diff --git a/os/iopreds.c b/os/iopreds.c
index fa15baedd..1dd992639 100644
--- a/os/iopreds.c
+++ b/os/iopreds.c
@@ -254,7 +254,10 @@ void Yap_DefaultStreamOps(StreamDesc *st) {
     return;
   }
   st->stream_wputc = put_wchar;
-  st->stream_wgetc = get_wchar_UTF8;
+  if (st->encoding == ENC_ISO_UTF8)
+            st->stream_wgetc = get_wchar_UTF8;
+  else
+    st->stream_wgetc = get_wchar;
   st->stream_putc = FilePutc;
   st->stream_getc = PlGetc;
   if (st->status & (Promptable_Stream_f)) {
diff --git a/os/readterm.c b/os/readterm.c
index 3a7e6ca7f..f1e39d252 100644
--- a/os/readterm.c
+++ b/os/readterm.c
@@ -1353,8 +1353,8 @@ static Int style_checker(USES_REGS1) {
 Term Yap_BufferToTerm(const unsigned char *s, size_t len, Term opts) {
   Term rval;
   int sno;
-  encoding_t L;
-  sno = Yap_open_buf_read_stream((char *)s, len, &L, MEM_BUF_USER);
+  encoding_t l = ENC_ISO_UTF8;
+  sno = Yap_open_buf_read_stream((char *)s, len, &l, MEM_BUF_USER);
 
   rval = Yap_read_term(sno, opts, false);
   Yap_CloseStream(sno);