diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/TByteArrayOutputStream.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/TByteArrayOutputStream.java
index 1c37ecd..3a2d56c 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/TByteArrayOutputStream.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/TByteArrayOutputStream.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.apache.thrift;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 
 /**
  * Class that allows access to the underlying buf without doing deep
@@ -53,4 +54,8 @@
   public int len() {
     return count;
   }
+
+  public String toString(Charset charset) {
+    return new String(buf, 0, count, charset);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.java
index aaa1fd8..563128c 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.java
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.apache.thrift.protocol;
 
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 import org.apache.thrift.TException;
 import org.apache.thrift.transport.TTransport;
@@ -202,13 +202,9 @@
   }
 
   public void writeString(String str) throws TException {
-    try {
-      byte[] dat = str.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      writeI32(dat.length);
-      trans_.write(dat, 0, dat.length);
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    byte[] dat = str.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+    writeI32(dat.length);
+    trans_.write(dat, 0, dat.length);
   }
 
   public void writeBinary(ByteBuffer bin) throws TException {
@@ -360,13 +356,10 @@
     checkStringReadLength(size);
 
     if (trans_.getBytesRemainingInBuffer() >= size) {
-      try {
-        String s = new String(trans_.getBuffer(), trans_.getBufferPosition(), size, "UTF-8");
-        trans_.consumeBuffer(size);
-        return s;
-      } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-        throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-      }
+      String s = new String(trans_.getBuffer(), trans_.getBufferPosition(),
+          size, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+      trans_.consumeBuffer(size);
+      return s;
     }
 
     return readStringBody(size);
@@ -374,13 +367,9 @@
 
   public String readStringBody(int size) throws TException {
     checkStringReadLength(size);
-    try {
-      byte[] buf = new byte[size];
-      trans_.readAll(buf, 0, size);
-      return new String(buf, "UTF-8");
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    byte[] buf = new byte[size];
+    trans_.readAll(buf, 0, size);
+    return new String(buf, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
   }
 
   public ByteBuffer readBinary() throws TException {
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TCompactProtocol.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TCompactProtocol.java
index 56c349a..92f186e 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TCompactProtocol.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TCompactProtocol.java
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 import org.apache.thrift.ShortStack;
 import org.apache.thrift.TException;
@@ -359,12 +360,8 @@
    * Write a string to the wire with a varint size preceding.
    */
   public void writeString(String str) throws TException {
-    try {
-      byte[] bytes = str.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      writeBinary(bytes, 0, bytes.length);
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-      throw new TException("UTF-8 not supported!");
-    }
+    byte[] bytes = str.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+    writeBinary(bytes, 0, bytes.length);
   }
 
   /**
@@ -680,17 +677,15 @@
       return "";
     }
 
-    try {
-      if (trans_.getBytesRemainingInBuffer() >= length) {
-        String str = new String(trans_.getBuffer(), trans_.getBufferPosition(), length, "UTF-8");
-        trans_.consumeBuffer(length);
-        return str;
-      } else {
-        return new String(readBinary(length), "UTF-8");
-      }
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-      throw new TException("UTF-8 not supported!");
+    final String str;
+    if (trans_.getBytesRemainingInBuffer() >= length) {
+      str = new String(trans_.getBuffer(), trans_.getBufferPosition(),
+          length, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+      trans_.consumeBuffer(length);
+    } else {
+      str = new String(readBinary(length), StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     }
+    return str;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TJSONProtocol.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TJSONProtocol.java
index fd54fdf..d37c493 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TJSONProtocol.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TJSONProtocol.java
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
 package org.apache.thrift.protocol;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Stack;
 
@@ -418,12 +418,8 @@
     if (escapeNum) {
       trans_.write(QUOTE);
     }
-    try {
-      byte[] buf = str.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      trans_.write(buf);
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    byte[] buf = str.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+    trans_.write(buf);
     if (escapeNum) {
       trans_.write(QUOTE);
     }
@@ -453,12 +449,8 @@
     if (escapeNum) {
       trans_.write(QUOTE);
     }
-    try {
-      byte[] b = str.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      trans_.write(b, 0, b.length);
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    byte[] b = str.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+    trans_.write(b, 0, b.length);
     if (escapeNum) {
       trans_.write(QUOTE);
     }
@@ -513,12 +505,8 @@
     resetContext(); // THRIFT-3743
     writeJSONArrayStart();
     writeJSONInteger(VERSION);
-    try {
-      byte[] b = message.name.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      writeJSONString(b);
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    byte[] b = message.name.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+    writeJSONString(b);
     writeJSONInteger(message.type);
     writeJSONInteger(message.seqid);
   }
@@ -628,12 +616,8 @@
 
   @Override
   public void writeString(String str) throws TException {
-    try {
-      byte[] b = str.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      writeJSONString(b);
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    byte[] b = str.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+    writeJSONString(b);
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -684,19 +668,17 @@
               }
 
               codeunits.add((char)cu);
-              arr.write((new String(new int[] { codeunits.get(0), codeunits.get(1) }, 0, 2)).getBytes("UTF-8"));
+              arr.write(
+                  (new String(new int[] { codeunits.get(0), codeunits.get(1) },
+                      0, 2)).getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
               codeunits.clear();
             }
             else {
-              arr.write((new String(new int[] { cu }, 0, 1)).getBytes("UTF-8"));
+              arr.write((new String(new int[] { cu }, 0, 1))
+                  .getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
             }
             continue;
-          }
-          catch (UnsupportedEncodingException ex) {
-            throw new TProtocolException(TProtocolException.NOT_IMPLEMENTED,
-                "JVM does not support UTF-8");
-          }
-          catch (IOException ex) {
+          } catch (IOException ex) {
             throw new TProtocolException(TProtocolException.INVALID_DATA,
                 "Invalid unicode sequence");
           }
@@ -777,19 +759,14 @@
     context_.read();
     if (reader_.peek() == QUOTE[0]) {
       TByteArrayOutputStream arr = readJSONString(true);
-      try {
-        double dub = Double.valueOf(arr.toString("UTF-8"));
-        if (!context_.escapeNum() && !Double.isNaN(dub) &&
-            !Double.isInfinite(dub)) {
-          // Throw exception -- we should not be in a string in this case
-          throw new TProtocolException(TProtocolException.INVALID_DATA,
-                                       "Numeric data unexpectedly quoted");
-        }
-        return dub;
+      double dub = Double.valueOf(arr.toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+      if (!context_.escapeNum() && !Double.isNaN(dub)
+          && !Double.isInfinite(dub)) {
+        // Throw exception -- we should not be in a string in this case
+        throw new TProtocolException(TProtocolException.INVALID_DATA,
+            "Numeric data unexpectedly quoted");
       }
-      catch (UnsupportedEncodingException ex) {
-        throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-      }
+      return dub;
     }
     else {
       if (context_.escapeNum()) {
@@ -868,13 +845,7 @@
       throw new TProtocolException(TProtocolException.BAD_VERSION,
                                    "Message contained bad version.");
     }
-    String name;
-    try {
-      name = readJSONString(false).toString("UTF-8");
-    }
-    catch (UnsupportedEncodingException ex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    String name = readJSONString(false).toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     byte type = (byte) readJSONInteger();
     int seqid = (int) readJSONInteger();
     return new TMessage(name, type, seqid);
@@ -991,12 +962,7 @@
 
   @Override
   public String readString() throws TException {
-    try {
-      return readJSONString(false).toString("UTF-8");
-    }
-    catch (UnsupportedEncodingException ex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    return readJSONString(false).toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
   }
 
   @Override
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TSimpleJSONProtocol.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TSimpleJSONProtocol.java
index b24e421..e7e8d46 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TSimpleJSONProtocol.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TSimpleJSONProtocol.java
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.apache.thrift.protocol;
 
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Stack;
 
 import org.apache.thrift.TException;
@@ -262,12 +262,8 @@
   }
 
   public void _writeStringData(String s) throws TException {
-    try {
-      byte[] b = s.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      trans_.write(b);
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    byte[] b = s.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+    trans_.write(b);
   }
 
   public void writeI64(long i64) throws TException {
@@ -342,12 +338,10 @@
   }
 
   public void writeBinary(ByteBuffer bin) throws TException {
-    try {
-      // TODO(mcslee): Fix this
-      writeString(new String(bin.array(), bin.position() + bin.arrayOffset(), bin.limit() - bin.position() - bin.arrayOffset(), "UTF-8"));
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException uex) {
-      throw new TException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-    }
+    // TODO(mcslee): Fix this
+    writeString(new String(bin.array(), bin.position() + bin.arrayOffset(),
+        bin.limit() - bin.position() - bin.arrayOffset(),
+        StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TMemoryBuffer.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TMemoryBuffer.java
index ef5f5c2..b19ac86 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TMemoryBuffer.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TMemoryBuffer.java
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 package org.apache.thrift.transport;
 
 import org.apache.thrift.TByteArrayOutputStream;
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 
 /**
  * Memory buffer-based implementation of the TTransport interface.
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@
    * Create a TMemoryBuffer with an initial buffer size of <i>size</i>. The
    * internal buffer will grow as necessary to accommodate the size of the data
    * being written to it.
+   *
+   * @param size the initial size of the buffer
    */
   public TMemoryBuffer(int size) {
     arr_ = new TByteArrayOutputStream(size);
@@ -69,11 +71,11 @@
   /**
    * Output the contents of the memory buffer as a String, using the supplied
    * encoding
-   * @param enc  the encoding to use
+   * @param charset the encoding to use
    * @return the contents of the memory buffer as a String
    */
-  public String toString(String enc) throws UnsupportedEncodingException {
-    return arr_.toString(enc);
+  public String toString(Charset charset) {
+    return arr_.toString(charset);
   }
 
   public String inspect() {
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslClientTransport.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslClientTransport.java
index 8122289..4b1ca0a 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslClientTransport.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslClientTransport.java
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.thrift.transport;
 
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import javax.security.auth.callback.CallbackHandler;
@@ -97,12 +97,7 @@
     LOGGER.debug("Sending mechanism name {} and initial response of length {}", mechanism,
         initialResponse.length);
 
-    byte[] mechanismBytes;
-	try {
-		mechanismBytes = mechanism.getBytes("UTF-8");
-	} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-		throw new TTransportException(e);
-	}
+    byte[] mechanismBytes = mechanism.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     sendSaslMessage(NegotiationStatus.START,
                     mechanismBytes);
     // Send initial response
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslServerTransport.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslServerTransport.java
index e6c0e3e..39b81ca 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslServerTransport.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslServerTransport.java
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
 
 package org.apache.thrift.transport;
 
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.lang.ref.WeakReference;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 import javax.security.sasl.SaslException;
 import javax.security.sasl.SaslServer;
 
-import org.apache.thrift.TException;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -132,12 +131,7 @@
     }
 
     // Get the mechanism name.
-    String mechanismName;
-	try {
-		mechanismName = new String(message.payload, "UTF-8");
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-        throw new TTransportException("JVM DOES NOT SUPPORT UTF-8");
-      }
+    String mechanismName = new String(message.payload, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     TSaslServerDefinition serverDefinition = serverDefinitionMap.get(mechanismName);
     LOGGER.debug("Received mechanism name '{}'", mechanismName);
 
diff --git a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslTransport.java b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslTransport.java
index bbd3f9a..80f3557 100644
--- a/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslTransport.java
+++ b/lib/java/src/org/apache/thrift/transport/TSaslTransport.java
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.thrift.transport;
 
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -194,12 +194,8 @@
     underlyingTransport.readAll(payload, 0, payload.length);
 
     if (status == NegotiationStatus.BAD || status == NegotiationStatus.ERROR) {
-      try {
-        String remoteMessage = new String(payload, "UTF-8");
-        throw new TTransportException("Peer indicated failure: " + remoteMessage);
-      } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-        throw new TTransportException(e);
-      }
+      String remoteMessage = new String(payload, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+      throw new TTransportException("Peer indicated failure: " + remoteMessage);
     }
 
     if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled())
@@ -224,7 +220,7 @@
    */
   protected TTransportException sendAndThrowMessage(NegotiationStatus status, String message) throws TTransportException {
     try {
-      sendSaslMessage(status, message.getBytes("UTF-8"));
+      sendSaslMessage(status, message.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
     } catch (Exception e) {
       LOGGER.warn("Could not send failure response", e);
       message += "\nAlso, could not send response: " + e.toString();
diff --git a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/Fixtures.java b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/Fixtures.java
index 81671d8..61f40a5 100644
--- a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/Fixtures.java
+++ b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/Fixtures.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.apache.thrift;
 
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
@@ -267,7 +268,7 @@
       oneOfEach.setInteger64((long) 6000 * 1000 * 1000);
       oneOfEach.setDouble_precision(Math.PI);
       oneOfEach.setSome_characters("JSON THIS! \"\1");
-      oneOfEach.setZomg_unicode(new String(kUnicodeBytes, "UTF-8"));
+      oneOfEach.setZomg_unicode(new String(kUnicodeBytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
       oneOfEach.setBase64(ByteBuffer.wrap("base64".getBytes()));
       // byte, i16, and i64 lists are populated by default constructor
 
diff --git a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTJSONProtocol.java b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTJSONProtocol.java
index 1320749..c2ca1fa 100644
--- a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTJSONProtocol.java
+++ b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTJSONProtocol.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.thrift.protocol;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 import org.apache.thrift.TException;
 import org.apache.thrift.protocol.TJSONProtocol;
@@ -35,13 +35,13 @@
     return false;
   }
 
-  public void testEscapedUnicode() throws TException, IOException {
+  public void testEscapedUnicode() throws TException {
     String jsonString = "\"hello unicode \\u0e01\\ud834\\udd1e world\"";
     String expectedString = "hello unicode \u0e01\ud834\udd1e world";
 
     TMemoryBuffer buffer = new TMemoryBuffer(1000);
     TJSONProtocol protocol = new TJSONProtocol(buffer);
-    buffer.write(jsonString.getBytes("UTF-8"));
+    buffer.write(jsonString.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
 
     assertEquals(expectedString, protocol.readString());
   }
diff --git a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTSimpleJSONProtocol.java b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTSimpleJSONProtocol.java
index b8c4657..9d125b1 100644
--- a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTSimpleJSONProtocol.java
+++ b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/protocol/TestTSimpleJSONProtocol.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
  */
 package org.apache.thrift.protocol;
 
-import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 
 import junit.framework.TestCase;
 
@@ -40,11 +40,7 @@
   }
 
   private String bufToString() {
-    try {
-      return buf.toString("UTF-8");
-    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-      throw new RuntimeException(e);
-    }
+    return buf.toString(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
   }
 
   public void testHolyMoley() throws TException {
diff --git a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/transport/TestTSaslTransports.java b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/transport/TestTSaslTransports.java
index 788395f..36a06e9 100644
--- a/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/transport/TestTSaslTransports.java
+++ b/lib/java/test/org/apache/thrift/transport/TestTSaslTransports.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 package org.apache.thrift.transport;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -332,12 +333,8 @@
         throw new SaslException("Already complete!");
       }
 
-      try {
-        hasProvidedInitialResponse = true;
-        return username.getBytes("UTF-8");
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-        throw new SaslException(e.toString());
-      }
+      hasProvidedInitialResponse = true;
+      return username.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
     }
     public boolean isComplete() { return hasProvidedInitialResponse; }
     public byte[] unwrap(byte[] incoming, int offset, int len) {
@@ -354,11 +351,7 @@
     private String user;
     public String getMechanismName() { return "ANONYMOUS"; }
     public byte[] evaluateResponse(byte[] response) throws SaslException {
-      try {
-        this.user = new String(response, "UTF-8");
-      } catch (IOException e) {
-        throw new SaslException(e.toString());
-      }
+      this.user = new String(response, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
       return null;
     }
     public boolean isComplete() { return user != null; }