diff --git a/stringutilities.py b/stringutilities.py
index 3e17e63..ff7d7bb 100644
--- a/stringutilities.py
+++ b/stringutilities.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ def run(self, edit):
             if not region.empty():
                 text = self.view.substr(region).encode(self.enc())
                 t = base64.b64encode(text)
-                txt = str(t,'ascii')
+                txt = str(t, self.enc())
                 self.view.replace(edit, region, txt)
 
     def enc(self):
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ def run(self, edit):
             if not region.empty():
                 text = self.view.substr(region).encode(self.enc())
                 t = base64.b64decode(text)
-                txt = str(t,'ascii')
+                txt = str(t, self.enc())
                 self.view.replace(edit, region, txt)
 
     def enc(self):