diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 0516338f..ca4555c2 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -129,4 +129,8 @@ module ApplicationHelper
       "ui_mars"
     end
   end
+
+  def string_to_utf8 str
+    Gitlabhq::Encode.utf8 str
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/commit.rb b/app/models/commit.rb
index 8e0681f0..76064b05 100644
--- a/app/models/commit.rb
+++ b/app/models/commit.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 class Commit
   include ActiveModel::Conversion
+  include Gitlabhq::Encode
   extend ActiveModel::Naming
 
   attr_accessor :commit
@@ -90,7 +91,7 @@ class Commit
   end
 
   def safe_message
-    message
+    utf8 message
   end
 
   def created_at
@@ -102,11 +103,11 @@ class Commit
   end
 
   def author_name
-    author.name.force_encoding("UTF-8")
+    utf8 author.name
   end
 
   def committer_name
-    committer.name
+    utf8 committer.name
   end
 
   def committer_email
diff --git a/app/views/commits/_diff_head.html.haml b/app/views/commits/_diff_head.html.haml
index b7913160..11d6ca16 100644
--- a/app/views/commits/_diff_head.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/commits/_diff_head.html.haml
@@ -3,24 +3,24 @@
     %li
       - if diff.deleted_file
         %span.removed_file
-          %a{:href => "##{diff.a_path}"}
-            = diff.a_path
+          %a{:href => "##{diff.old_path}"}
+            = diff.old_path
             = image_tag "diff_file_delete.png"
       - elsif diff.renamed_file
         %span.moved_file
-          %a{:href => "##{diff.b_path}"}
-            = diff.a_path
+          %a{:href => "##{diff.new_path}"}
+            = diff.old_path
             = "->"
-            = diff.b_path
+            = diff.new_path
             = image_tag "diff_file_notice.png"
       - elsif diff.new_file
         %span.new_file
-          %a{:href => "##{diff.b_path}"}
-            = diff.b_path
+          %a{:href => "##{diff.new_path}"}
+            = diff.new_path
             = image_tag "diff_file_add.png"
       - else
         %span.edit_file
-          %a{:href => "##{diff.b_path}"}
-            = diff.b_path
+          %a{:href => "##{diff.new_path}"}
+            = diff.new_path
             = image_tag "diff_file_info.png"
 
diff --git a/app/views/commits/_diffs.html.haml b/app/views/commits/_diffs.html.haml
index 96aed24c..63baaad5 100644
--- a/app/views/commits/_diffs.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/commits/_diffs.html.haml
@@ -17,16 +17,16 @@
 - unless @suppress_diff
   - diffs.each_with_index do |diff, i|
     - next if diff.diff.empty?
-    - file = (@commit.tree / diff.b_path)
-    - file = (@commit.prev_commit.tree / diff.a_path) unless file
+    - file = (@commit.tree / diff.new_path)
+    - file = (@commit.prev_commit.tree / diff.old_path) unless file
     - next unless file
     .diff_file
       .diff_file_header
         - if diff.deleted_file
-          %strong{:id => "#{diff.a_path}"}= diff.a_path
+          %strong{:id => "#{diff.old_path}"}= diff.old_path
         - else
-          = link_to tree_file_project_ref_path(@project, @commit.id, diff.b_path) do
-            %strong{:id => "#{diff.b_path}"}= diff.b_path
+          = link_to tree_file_project_ref_path(@project, @commit.id, diff.new_path) do
+            %strong{:id => "#{diff.new_path}"}= diff.new_path
         %br/
       .diff_file_content
         - if file.text?
diff --git a/config/initializers/gitlabhq/20_grit_ext.rb b/config/initializers/gitlabhq/20_grit_ext.rb
index 13ee77b7..50b57d5e 100644
--- a/config/initializers/gitlabhq/20_grit_ext.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/gitlabhq/20_grit_ext.rb
@@ -10,38 +10,20 @@ end
 #monkey patch raw_object from string
 Grit::GitRuby::Internal::RawObject.class_eval do
   def content
-    transcoding(@content)
-  rescue Exception => ex
-    Rails.logger.error ex.message
     @content
   end
-
-  private
-
-  def transcoding(content)
-    content ||= ""
-    hash = CharlockHolmes::EncodingDetector.detect(content)
-
-    if hash 
-      return content if hash[:type] == :binary
-
-      if hash[:encoding] == "UTF-8"
-        content = if hash[:confidence] < 100
-                    content
-                  else
-                    content.force_encoding("UTF-8")
-                  end
-
-        return content
-      end
-
-      CharlockHolmes::Converter.convert(content, hash[:encoding], 'UTF-8') if hash[:encoding]
-    else 
-      content.force_encoding("UTF-8")
-    end
-  end
 end
 
 
+Grit::Diff.class_eval do 
+  def old_path
+    Gitlabhq::Encode.utf8 a_path
+  end
+
+  def new_path
+    Gitlabhq::Encode.utf8 b_path
+  end
+end
+
 Grit::Git.git_timeout = GIT_OPTS["git_timeout"]
 Grit::Git.git_max_size = GIT_OPTS["git_max_size"]
diff --git a/lib/gitlabhq/encode.rb b/lib/gitlabhq/encode.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a493fb21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/gitlabhq/encode.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+module Gitlabhq
+  module Encode 
+    extend self
+
+    def utf8 message
+      hash = CharlockHolmes::EncodingDetector.detect(message)
+      if hash[:encoding]
+        CharlockHolmes::Converter.convert(message, hash[:encoding], 'UTF-8')
+      else
+        message
+      end.force_encoding("utf-8")
+    end
+  end
+end