diff --git a/lib/Qrcode/Decoder/DecodedBitStreamParser.php b/lib/Qrcode/Decoder/DecodedBitStreamParser.php
index 147361b..975879d 100644
--- a/lib/Qrcode/Decoder/DecodedBitStreamParser.php
+++ b/lib/Qrcode/Decoder/DecodedBitStreamParser.php
@@ -325,6 +325,8 @@ private static function decodeByteSegment(
 		} else {
 			$encoding = $currentCharacterSetECI->name();
 		}
+		// in case of no encoding found, default to UTF-8
+		if (empty($encoding)) { $encoding = 'UTF-8'; }
 		$result .= mb_convert_encoding($text, $encoding); //(new String(readBytes, encoding));
 		// $result .= $text; //(new String(readBytes, encoding));