diff --git a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/ContentType.scala b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/ContentType.scala
index f48ed2ad9c..5ce944a83f 100644
--- a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/ContentType.scala
+++ b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/ContentType.scala
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ final case class ContentType(mediaType: MediaType, definedCharset: Option[HttpCh
     case Some(cs) ⇒ r ~~ mediaType ~~ ContentType.`; charset=` ~~ cs
     case _        ⇒ r ~~ mediaType
   }
-  def charset: HttpCharset = definedCharset getOrElse HttpCharsets.`ISO-8859-1`
+  def charset: HttpCharset = definedCharset getOrElse HttpCharsets.`UTF-8`
 
   def isCharsetDefined = definedCharset.isDefined
   def noCharsetDefined = definedCharset.isEmpty
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ final case class ContentType(mediaType: MediaType, definedCharset: Option[HttpCh
     if (isCharsetDefined) copy(definedCharset = None) else this
 
   /** Java API */
-  def getDefinedCharset: japi.HttpCharset = definedCharset.getOrElse(null)
+  def getDefinedCharset: japi.HttpCharset = definedCharset.orNull
 }
 
 object ContentType {
diff --git a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/HttpMessage.scala b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/HttpMessage.scala
index 179af655dc..3ef117024e 100644
--- a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/HttpMessage.scala
+++ b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/HttpMessage.scala
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ final case class HttpRequest(method: HttpMethod = HttpMethods.GET,
   def qValueForCharset(charset: HttpCharset, ranges: Seq[HttpCharsetRange] = acceptedCharsetRanges): Float =
     ranges match {
       case Nil ⇒ 1.0f // http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7231#section-5.3.1
-      case x   ⇒ x collectFirst { case r if r matches charset ⇒ r.qValue } getOrElse (if (charset == `ISO-8859-1`) 1f else 0f)
+      case x   ⇒ x collectFirst { case r if r matches charset ⇒ r.qValue } getOrElse 0f
     }
 
   /**
diff --git a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/headers/HttpCredentials.scala b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/headers/HttpCredentials.scala
index 8c0438423b..1b01e71e38 100644
--- a/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/headers/HttpCredentials.scala
+++ b/akka-http-core/src/main/scala/akka/http/model/headers/HttpCredentials.scala
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ package headers
 import akka.parboiled2.util.Base64
 import akka.http.model.HttpCharsets._
 import akka.http.util.{ Rendering, ValueRenderable }
-
 import akka.http.model.japi.JavaMapping.Implicits._
 
 sealed abstract class HttpCredentials extends japi.headers.HttpCredentials with ValueRenderable {
@@ -23,7 +22,7 @@ sealed abstract class HttpCredentials extends japi.headers.HttpCredentials with
 final case class BasicHttpCredentials(username: String, password: String) extends japi.headers.BasicHttpCredentials {
   val cookie = {
     val userPass = username + ':' + password
-    val bytes = userPass.getBytes(`ISO-8859-1`.nioCharset)
+    val bytes = userPass.getBytes(`UTF-8`.nioCharset)
     Base64.rfc2045.encodeToChar(bytes, false)
   }
   def render[R <: Rendering](r: R): r.type = r ~~ "Basic " ~~ cookie
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ final case class BasicHttpCredentials(username: String, password: String) extend
 object BasicHttpCredentials {
   def apply(credentials: String): BasicHttpCredentials = {
     val bytes = Base64.rfc2045.decodeFast(credentials)
-    val userPass = new String(bytes, `ISO-8859-1`.nioCharset)
+    val userPass = new String(bytes, `UTF-8`.nioCharset)
     userPass.indexOf(':') match {
       case -1 ⇒ apply(userPass, "")
       case ix ⇒ apply(userPass.substring(0, ix), userPass.substring(ix + 1))
diff --git a/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/marshalling/Marshal.scala b/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/marshalling/Marshal.scala
index 1a031cbeb4..456f04f1e9 100644
--- a/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/marshalling/Marshal.scala
+++ b/akka-http/src/main/scala/akka/http/marshalling/Marshal.scala
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ class Marshal[A](val value: A) {
           else charsetRanges match { // ranges are sorted by descending q-value,
             case (HttpCharsetRange.One(cs, qValue)) :: _ ⇒ // so we only need to look at the first one
               if (qValue == 1f) withCharset(cs) // if the client has high preference for this charset, pick it
-              else if (qValueCS(`ISO-8859-1`) == 1f) withCharset(`ISO-8859-1`) // give some more preference to `ISO-8859-1`
               else if (qValue > 0f) withCharset(cs) // ok, simply choose the first one if the client doesn't reject it
               else acc
             case _ ⇒ acc