diff --git a/std/http/file_server.ts b/std/http/file_server.ts
index 729aa97250..4fd49930ca 100755
--- a/std/http/file_server.ts
+++ b/std/http/file_server.ts
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ async function serveFile(
   const [file, fileInfo] = await Promise.all([open(filePath), stat(filePath)]);
   const headers = new Headers();
   headers.set("content-length", fileInfo.len.toString());
-  headers.set("content-type", "text/plain");
+  headers.set("content-type", "text/plain; charset=utf-8");
 
   const res = {
     status: 200,
diff --git a/std/http/file_server_test.ts b/std/http/file_server_test.ts
index b274b3f08e..deb08f1989 100644
--- a/std/http/file_server_test.ts
+++ b/std/http/file_server_test.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ test(async function serveFile(): Promise<void> {
     const res = await fetch("http://localhost:4500/README.md");
     assert(res.headers.has("access-control-allow-origin"));
     assert(res.headers.has("access-control-allow-headers"));
+    assert(res.headers.has("content-type"));
+    assert(res.headers.get("content-type").includes("charset=utf-8"));
     const downloadedFile = await res.text();
     const localFile = new TextDecoder().decode(
       await Deno.readFile("README.md")
@@ -111,8 +113,6 @@ test(async function servePermissionDenied(): Promise<void> {
       await errReader.readLine(),
       "run again with the --allow-read flag"
     );
-  } catch (e) {
-    throw e;
   } finally {
     deniedServer.close();
     deniedServer.stdout!.close();