diff --git a/src/ziggurat/middleware/json.clj b/src/ziggurat/middleware/json.clj
index 372faa60..523d6b49 100644
--- a/src/ziggurat/middleware/json.clj
+++ b/src/ziggurat/middleware/json.clj
@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@
             [ziggurat.metrics :as metrics]))
 
 (defn- deserialize-json
-  [message topic-entity-name key-fn encoding]
+  [message topic-entity-name key-fn]
   (try
-    (parse-string (String. message encoding) key-fn)
+    (parse-string message key-fn)
     (catch Exception e
       (let [additional-tags   {:topic_name topic-entity-name}
             default-namespace "json-message-parsing"]
@@ -39,9 +39,7 @@
 
    "
   ([handler-fn topic-entity-name]
-   (parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name true "UTF-8"))
+   (parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name true))
   ([handler-fn topic-entity-name key-fn]
-   (parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name key-fn "UTF-8"))
-  ([handler-fn topic-entity-name key-fn encoding]
    (fn [message]
-     (handler-fn (deserialize-json message topic-entity-name key-fn encoding)))))
+     (handler-fn (deserialize-json message topic-entity-name key-fn)))))
diff --git a/test/ziggurat/middleware/json_test.clj b/test/ziggurat/middleware/json_test.clj
index 62170f62..0f1a009a 100644
--- a/test/ziggurat/middleware/json_test.clj
+++ b/test/ziggurat/middleware/json_test.clj
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
           handler-fn         (fn [msg]
                                (if (= msg message)
                                  (reset! handler-fn-called? true)))]
-      ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name) (.getBytes (generate-string message)))
+      ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name) (generate-string message))
       (is (true? @handler-fn-called?))))
   (testing "Given a handler function and key-fn as false, parse-json should call that function on after
             deserializing the string without coercing the keys to keywords."
@@ -29,19 +29,7 @@
           handler-fn         (fn [msg]
                                (if (= msg expected-output)
                                  (reset! handler-fn-called? true)))]
-      ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name false) (.getBytes (generate-string message)))
-      (is (true? @handler-fn-called?))))
-  (testing "Given a handler function, key-fn as false and an encoding, parse-json should call that function on after
-            deserializing the string (with the given encoding) without coercing the keys to keywords."
-    (let [handler-fn-called? (atom false)
-          message            {:a "A"
-                              :b "B"}
-          expected-output    {"a" "A" "b" "B"}
-          topic-entity-name  "test"
-          handler-fn         (fn [msg]
-                               (if (= msg expected-output)
-                                 (reset! handler-fn-called? true)))]
-      ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name false "UTF-8") (.getBytes (generate-string message)))
+      ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name false) (generate-string message))
       (is (true? @handler-fn-called?))))
   (testing "Given a handler function and a key-fn, parse-json should call that function after
             deserializing the string by applying key-fn to keys."
@@ -54,7 +42,7 @@
           handler-fn         (fn [msg]
                                (if (= msg expected-output)
                                  (reset! handler-fn-called? true)))]
-      ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name key-fn) (.getBytes (generate-string message)))
+      ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name key-fn) (generate-string message))
       (is (true? @handler-fn-called?))))
   (testing "Should report metrics when JSON deserialization fails"
     (let [handler-fn-called?      (atom false)
@@ -66,6 +54,6 @@
                                       (reset! handler-fn-called? true)))]
       (with-redefs [metrics/increment-count (fn [_ _ _]
                                               (reset! metric-reporter-called? true))]
-        ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name true) (.getBytes message)))
+        ((parse-json handler-fn topic-entity-name true) message))
       (is (true? @handler-fn-called?))
       (is (true? @metric-reporter-called?)))))