diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index 05d7910b7cdbd6..2fddf750fabf9a 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -3935,6 +3935,9 @@ sub run_highlighter {
 
 	close $fd;
 	open $fd, quote_command(git_cmd(), "cat-file", "blob", $hash)." | ".
+	          quote_command($^X, '-CO', '-MEncode=decode,FB_DEFAULT', '-pse',
+	            '$_ = decode($fe, $_, FB_DEFAULT) if !utf8::decode($_);',
+	            '--', "-fe=$fallback_encoding")." | ".
 	          quote_command($highlight_bin).
 	          " --replace-tabs=8 --fragment --syntax $syntax |"
 		or die_error(500, "Couldn't open file or run syntax highlighter");