diff --git a/demo/markdownlint-browser.js b/demo/markdownlint-browser.js
index 5e0f6a8d..701f7526 100644
--- a/demo/markdownlint-browser.js
+++ b/demo/markdownlint-browser.js
@@ -52,8 +52,6 @@ module.exports.orderedListItemMarkerRe = /^[\s>]*0*(\d+)[.)]/;
 var emphasisMarkersRe = /[_*]/g;
 // Regular expression for inline links and shortcut reference links
 var linkRe = /\[(?:[^[\]]|\[[^\]]*\])*\](?:\(\S*\))?/g;
-// readFile options for reading with the UTF-8 encoding
-module.exports.utf8Encoding = "utf8";
 // All punctuation characters (normal and full-width)
 var allPunctuation = ".,;:!?。，；：！？";
 module.exports.allPunctuation = allPunctuation;
@@ -1423,10 +1421,10 @@ function lintFile(ruleList, file, md, config, frontMatter, handleRuleFailures, n
     // Make a/synchronous call to read file
     if (synchronous) {
         // @ts-ignore
-        lintContentWrapper(null, fs.readFileSync(file, helpers.utf8Encoding));
+        lintContentWrapper(null, fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8"));
     }
     else {
-        fs.readFile(file, helpers.utf8Encoding, lintContentWrapper);
+        fs.readFile(file, "utf8", lintContentWrapper);
     }
 }
 /**
@@ -1643,7 +1641,7 @@ function readConfig(file, parsers, callback) {
         parsers = null;
     }
     // Read file
-    fs.readFile(file, helpers.utf8Encoding, function (err, content) {
+    fs.readFile(file, "utf8", function (err, content) {
         if (err) {
             return callback(err);
         }
@@ -1690,7 +1688,7 @@ function readConfigPromise(file, parsers) {
 function readConfigSync(file, parsers) {
     // Read file
     // @ts-ignore
-    var content = fs.readFileSync(file, helpers.utf8Encoding);
+    var content = fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8");
     // Try to parse file
     var _a = parseConfiguration(file, content, parsers), config = _a.config, message = _a.message;
     if (!config) {
diff --git a/helpers/helpers.js b/helpers/helpers.js
index 52ca1470..bcec394f 100644
--- a/helpers/helpers.js
+++ b/helpers/helpers.js
@@ -31,9 +31,6 @@ const emphasisMarkersRe = /[_*]/g;
 // Regular expression for inline links and shortcut reference links
 const linkRe = /\[(?:[^[\]]|\[[^\]]*\])*\](?:\(\S*\))?/g;
 
-// readFile options for reading with the UTF-8 encoding
-module.exports.utf8Encoding = "utf8";
-
 // All punctuation characters (normal and full-width)
 const allPunctuation = ".,;:!?。，；：！？";
 module.exports.allPunctuation = allPunctuation;
diff --git a/lib/markdownlint.js b/lib/markdownlint.js
index 165a144b..f327364c 100644
--- a/lib/markdownlint.js
+++ b/lib/markdownlint.js
@@ -710,9 +710,9 @@ function lintFile(
   // Make a/synchronous call to read file
   if (synchronous) {
     // @ts-ignore
-    lintContentWrapper(null, fs.readFileSync(file, helpers.utf8Encoding));
+    lintContentWrapper(null, fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8"));
   } else {
-    fs.readFile(file, helpers.utf8Encoding, lintContentWrapper);
+    fs.readFile(file, "utf8", lintContentWrapper);
   }
 }
 
@@ -967,7 +967,7 @@ function readConfig(file, parsers, callback) {
     parsers = null;
   }
   // Read file
-  fs.readFile(file, helpers.utf8Encoding, (err, content) => {
+  fs.readFile(file, "utf8", (err, content) => {
     if (err) {
       return callback(err);
     }
@@ -1020,7 +1020,7 @@ function readConfigPromise(file, parsers) {
 function readConfigSync(file, parsers) {
   // Read file
   // @ts-ignore
-  const content = fs.readFileSync(file, helpers.utf8Encoding);
+  const content = fs.readFileSync(file, "utf8");
   // Try to parse file
   const { config, message } = parseConfiguration(file, content, parsers);
   if (!config) {