diff --git a/src/cfgfile.c b/src/cfgfile.c
index c3ad6ee3..cff13f7e 100644
--- a/src/cfgfile.c
+++ b/src/cfgfile.c
@@ -133,6 +133,7 @@ static void config_clear_mount (mount_proxy *mount)
     xmlFree (mount->stream_genre);
     xmlFree (mount->bitrate);
     xmlFree (mount->type);
+    xmlFree (mount->charset);
     xmlFree (mount->cluster_password);
 
     xmlFree (mount->auth_type);
@@ -581,6 +582,10 @@ static void _parse_mount(xmlDocPtr doc, xmlNodePtr node,
             mount->max_listeners = atoi(tmp);
             if(tmp) xmlFree(tmp);
         }
+        else if (strcmp(node->name, "charset") == 0) {
+            mount->charset = (char *)xmlNodeListGetString(doc,
+                    node->xmlChildrenNode, 1);
+        }
         else if (strcmp(node->name, "mp3-metadata-interval") == 0) {
             tmp = (char *)xmlNodeListGetString(doc, node->xmlChildrenNode, 1);
             mount->mp3_meta_interval = atoi(tmp);
diff --git a/src/cfgfile.h b/src/cfgfile.h
index 6b7a414b..e5e7ef5a 100644
--- a/src/cfgfile.h
+++ b/src/cfgfile.h
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ typedef struct _mount_proxy {
     unsigned int queue_size_limit;
     int hidden; /* Do we list this on the xsl pages */
     unsigned int source_timeout;  /* source timeout in seconds */
+    char *charset;  /* character set if not utf8 */
     int mp3_meta_interval; /* outgoing per-stream metadata interval */
 
     char *auth_type; /* Authentication type */
diff --git a/src/format.h b/src/format.h
index e1de9b63..f06c9b0c 100644
--- a/src/format.h
+++ b/src/format.h
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ typedef struct _format_plugin_tag
     char *mount;
 
     const char *contenttype;
+    char *charset;
     uint64_t read_bytes;
     uint64_t sent_bytes;
 
diff --git a/src/format_mp3.c b/src/format_mp3.c
index 8cfabe19..151ff15e 100644
--- a/src/format_mp3.c
+++ b/src/format_mp3.c
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ static void filter_shoutcast_metadata (source_t *source, char *metadata, unsigne
             {
                 memcpy (p, metadata+13, len);
                 logging_playlist (source->mount, p, source->listeners);
-                stats_event (source->mount, "title", p);
+                stats_event_conv (source->mount, "title", p, source->format->charset);
                 yp_touch (source->mount);
                 free (p);
             }
@@ -197,10 +197,21 @@ static void format_mp3_apply_settings (client_t *client, format_plugin_t *format
 {
     mp3_state *source_mp3 = format->_state;
 
-    if (mount == NULL || mount->mp3_meta_interval < 0)
+    source_mp3->interval = -1;
+    free (format->charset);
+    format->charset = NULL;
+
+    if (mount)
+    {
+        if (mount->mp3_meta_interval > 0)
+            source_mp3->interval = mount->mp3_meta_interval;
+        if (mount->charset)
+            format->charset = strdup (mount->charset);
+    }
+    if (source_mp3->interval <= 0)
     {
         const char *metadata = httpp_getvar (client->parser, "icy-metaint");
-        source_mp3->interval = -1;
+        source_mp3->interval = ICY_METADATA_INTERVAL;
         if (metadata)
         {
             int interval = atoi (metadata);
@@ -208,9 +219,12 @@ static void format_mp3_apply_settings (client_t *client, format_plugin_t *format
                 source_mp3->interval = interval;
         }
     }
-    else
-        source_mp3->interval = mount->mp3_meta_interval;
-    DEBUG1 ("mp3 interval %d", source_mp3->interval);
+
+    if (format->charset == NULL)
+        format->charset = strdup ("ISO8859-1");
+
+    DEBUG1 ("sending metadata interval %d", source_mp3->interval);
+    DEBUG1 ("charset %s", format->charset);
 }
 
 
@@ -277,7 +291,7 @@ static void mp3_set_title (source_t *source)
 static int send_mp3_metadata (client_t *client, refbuf_t *associated)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    unsigned char *metadata;
+    char *metadata;
     int meta_len;
     mp3_client_data *client_mp3 = client->format_data;
 
@@ -411,6 +425,7 @@ static void format_mp3_free_plugin(format_plugin_t *self)
     thread_mutex_destroy (&state->url_lock);
     free (state->url_artist);
     free (state->url_title);
+    free (self->charset);
     refbuf_release (state->metadata);
     refbuf_release (state->read_data);
     free(state);
@@ -509,7 +524,7 @@ static refbuf_t *mp3_get_filter_meta (source_t *source)
 
     refbuf = source_mp3->read_data;
     source_mp3->read_data = NULL;
-    src = refbuf->data;
+    src = (unsigned char *)refbuf->data;
 
     if (source_mp3->update_metadata)
     {
diff --git a/src/source.c b/src/source.c
index 7c4c91b6..a15d44ec 100644
--- a/src/source.c
+++ b/src/source.c
@@ -994,7 +994,7 @@ static void source_apply_mount (source_t *source, mount_proxy *mountinfo)
             str = "Unspecified name";
         } while (0);
     }
-    stats_event (source->mount, "server_name", str);
+    stats_event_conv (source->mount, "server_name", str, source->format->charset);
 
     /* stream description */
     if (mountinfo && mountinfo->stream_description)
@@ -1011,7 +1011,7 @@ static void source_apply_mount (source_t *source, mount_proxy *mountinfo)
             str = "Unspecified description";
         } while (0);
     }
-    stats_event (source->mount, "server_description", str);
+    stats_event_conv (source->mount, "server_description", str, source->format->charset);
 
     /* stream URL */
     if (mountinfo && mountinfo->stream_url)
@@ -1044,7 +1044,7 @@ static void source_apply_mount (source_t *source, mount_proxy *mountinfo)
             str = "various";
         } while (0);
     }
-    stats_event (source->mount, "genre", str);
+    stats_event_conv (source->mount, "genre", str, source->format->charset);
 
     /* stream bitrate */
     if (mountinfo && mountinfo->bitrate)
diff --git a/src/stats.c b/src/stats.c
index 8869a5c6..473e8a15 100644
--- a/src/stats.c
+++ b/src/stats.c
@@ -201,11 +201,55 @@ void stats_event(const char *source, const char *name, const char *value)
 {
     stats_event_t *event;
 
+    if (value && xmlCheckUTF8 ((unsigned char *)value) == 0)
+    {
+        WARN2 ("seen non-UTF8 data, probably incorrect metadata (%s, %s)", name, value);
+        return;
+    }
     event = build_event (source, name, value);
     if (event)
         queue_global_event (event);
 }
 
+
+/* wrapper for stats_event, this takes a charset to convert from */
+void stats_event_conv(const char *mount, const char *name, const char *value, const char *charset)
+{
+    const char *metadata = value;
+    xmlBufferPtr conv = xmlBufferCreate ();
+
+    if (charset)
+    {
+        xmlCharEncodingHandlerPtr handle = xmlFindCharEncodingHandler (charset);
+
+        if (handle)
+        {
+            xmlBufferPtr raw = xmlBufferCreate ();
+            xmlBufferAdd (raw, (const xmlChar *)value, strlen (value));
+            if (xmlCharEncInFunc (handle, conv, raw) > 0)
+                metadata = (char *)xmlBufferContent (conv);
+            xmlBufferFree (raw);
+            xmlCharEncCloseFunc (handle);
+        }
+        else
+            WARN1 ("No charset found for \"%s\"", charset);
+    }
+
+    stats_event (mount, name, metadata);
+
+    /* special case for title updates, log converted title */
+    if (mount && strcmp (name, "title") == 0)
+    {
+        char *s = stats_get_value ((char*)mount, "listeners");
+        int listeners = 0;
+        if (s)
+            listeners = atoi (s);
+        free (s);
+        logging_playlist (mount, metadata, listeners);
+    }
+    xmlBufferFree (conv);
+}
+
 /* make stat hidden (non-zero). name can be NULL if it applies to a whole
  * source stats tree. */
 void stats_event_hidden (const char *source, const char *name, int hidden)
diff --git a/src/stats.h b/src/stats.h
index 4cd648ba..46b5b229 100644
--- a/src/stats.h
+++ b/src/stats.h
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ void stats_get_streamlist (char *buffer, size_t remaining);
 void stats_clear_virtual_mounts (void);
 
 void stats_event(const char *source, const char *name, const char *value);
+void stats_event_conv(const char *mount, const char *name,
+        const char *value, const char *charset);
 void stats_event_args(const char *source, char *name, char *format, ...);
 void stats_event_inc(const char *source, const char *name);
 void stats_event_add(const char *source, const char *name, unsigned long value);