diff --git a/lib/reline.rb b/lib/reline.rb
index 6fc27caecd..26cf9119ee 100644
--- a/lib/reline.rb
+++ b/lib/reline.rb
@@ -453,17 +453,25 @@ def self.line_editor
   end
 end
 
+require 'reline/general_io'
 if RbConfig::CONFIG['host_os'] =~ /mswin|msys|mingw|cygwin|bccwin|wince|emc/
   require 'reline/windows'
   if Reline::Windows.msys_tty?
-    require 'reline/ansi'
-    Reline::IOGate = Reline::ANSI
+    Reline::IOGate = if ENV['TERM'] == 'dumb'
+      Reline::GeneralIO
+    else
+      require 'reline/ansi'
+      Reline::ANSI
+    end
   else
     Reline::IOGate = Reline::Windows
   end
 else
-  require 'reline/ansi'
-  Reline::IOGate = Reline::ANSI
+  Reline::IOGate = if $stdout.isatty
+    require 'reline/ansi'
+    Reline::ANSI
+  else
+    Reline::GeneralIO
+  end
 end
 Reline::HISTORY = Reline::History.new(Reline.core.config)
-require 'reline/general_io'
diff --git a/lib/reline/general_io.rb b/lib/reline/general_io.rb
index 4f605628a3..2f87d718c6 100644
--- a/lib/reline/general_io.rb
+++ b/lib/reline/general_io.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ def self.reset(encoding: nil)
   end
 
   def self.encoding
-    if @@encoding
+    if defined?(@@encoding)
       @@encoding
     elsif RUBY_PLATFORM =~ /mswin|mingw/
       Encoding::UTF_8