title: GitHub: Using UTF-8 encoding for files
body: <p><strong>Why isn't UTF-8 the default encoding for GitHub?</strong></p>
  
  <p>Does that mean that there are <strong>any drawbacks to change from the default "cp1252"</strong>?</p>
  
  <p>Does it have anything to do with using GitHub across platforms between Windows and Mac OSX?</p>
  
  <p>The question is asked from using GitHub, but can be asked about <strong>Git in general</strong>.</p>
  
  <p><em>I'm mostly doing development in .NET, HTML5 and Javascript, if that matters in the subject.</em></p>