diff --git a/jni/NativeFormats/util/AndroidUtil.cpp b/jni/NativeFormats/util/AndroidUtil.cpp
index 82c1474dd..49115ed34 100644
--- a/jni/NativeFormats/util/AndroidUtil.cpp
+++ b/jni/NativeFormats/util/AndroidUtil.cpp
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ bool AndroidUtil::init(JavaVM* jvm) {
 
 	Method_Encoding_createConverter = new ObjectMethod(Class_Encoding, "createConverter", Class_EncodingConverter, "()");
 	Field_EncodingConverter_Name = new ObjectField(Class_EncodingConverter, "Name", Class_java_lang_String);
-	Method_EncodingConverter_convert = new IntMethod(Class_EncodingConverter, "convert", "([BII[BI)");
+	Method_EncodingConverter_convert = new IntMethod(Class_EncodingConverter, "convert", "([BII[C)");
 	Method_EncodingConverter_reset = new VoidMethod(Class_EncodingConverter, "reset", "()");
 
 	StaticMethod_JavaEncodingCollection_Instance = new StaticObjectMethod(Class_JavaEncodingCollection, "Instance", Class_JavaEncodingCollection, "()");
diff --git a/jni/NativeFormats/zlibrary/core/src/encoding/JavaEncodingConverter.cpp b/jni/NativeFormats/zlibrary/core/src/encoding/JavaEncodingConverter.cpp
index 5961459fa..692ab4da1 100644
--- a/jni/NativeFormats/zlibrary/core/src/encoding/JavaEncodingConverter.cpp
+++ b/jni/NativeFormats/zlibrary/core/src/encoding/JavaEncodingConverter.cpp
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ private:
 	jobject myJavaConverter;
 	int myBufferLength;
 	jbyteArray myInBuffer;
-	jbyteArray myOutBuffer;
+	jcharArray myOutBuffer;
+	jchar *myCppOutBuffer;
 
 friend class JavaEncodingConverterProvider;
 };
@@ -73,11 +74,13 @@ JavaEncodingConverter::JavaEncodingConverter(const std::string &encoding) {
 
 	myBufferLength = 32768;
 	myInBuffer = env->NewByteArray(myBufferLength);
-	myOutBuffer = env->NewByteArray(2 * myBufferLength);
+	myOutBuffer = env->NewCharArray(myBufferLength);
+	myCppOutBuffer = new jchar[myBufferLength];
 }
 
 JavaEncodingConverter::~JavaEncodingConverter() {
 	JNIEnv *env = AndroidUtil::getEnv();
+	delete[] myCppOutBuffer;
 	env->DeleteLocalRef(myOutBuffer);
 	env->DeleteLocalRef(myInBuffer);
 	env->DeleteLocalRef(myJavaConverter);
@@ -95,18 +98,26 @@ void JavaEncodingConverter::convert(std::string &dst, const char *srcStart, cons
 	JNIEnv *env = AndroidUtil::getEnv();
 	const int srcLen = srcEnd - srcStart;
 	if (srcLen > myBufferLength) {
+		delete[] myCppOutBuffer;
 		env->DeleteLocalRef(myOutBuffer);
 		env->DeleteLocalRef(myInBuffer);
 		myBufferLength = srcLen;
 		myInBuffer = env->NewByteArray(myBufferLength);
-		myOutBuffer = env->NewByteArray(2 * myBufferLength);
+		myOutBuffer = env->NewCharArray(myBufferLength);
+		myCppOutBuffer = new jchar[myBufferLength];
 	}
 
 	env->SetByteArrayRegion(myInBuffer, 0, srcLen, (jbyte*)srcStart);
-	const jint dstLen = AndroidUtil::Method_EncodingConverter_convert->call(myJavaConverter, myInBuffer, 0, srcLen, myOutBuffer, 0);
-	const int origLen = dst.size();
-	dst.append(dstLen, '\0');
-	env->GetByteArrayRegion(myOutBuffer, 0, dstLen, (jbyte*)dst.data() + origLen);
+	const jint decodedCount = AndroidUtil::Method_EncodingConverter_convert->call(
+		myJavaConverter, myInBuffer, 0, srcLen, myOutBuffer
+	);
+	dst.reserve(dst.length() + decodedCount * 3);
+	env->GetCharArrayRegion(myOutBuffer, 0, decodedCount, myCppOutBuffer);
+	const jchar *end = myCppOutBuffer + decodedCount;
+	char buffer[3];
+	for (const jchar *ptr = myCppOutBuffer; ptr < end; ++ptr) {
+		dst.append(buffer, ZLUnicodeUtil::ucs2ToUtf8(buffer, *ptr));
+	}
 }
 
 void JavaEncodingConverter::reset() {
diff --git a/proguard.cfg b/proguard.cfg
index 9bed67752..0b9eb5be9 100755
--- a/proguard.cfg
+++ b/proguard.cfg
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 -keep class org.geometerplus.zlibrary.core.encodings.EncodingConverter
 -keepclassmembers class org.geometerplus.zlibrary.core.encodings.EncodingConverter {
     public ** Name;
-		public int convert(byte[],int,int,byte[],int);
+		public int convert(byte[],int,int,char[]);
 		public void reset();
 }
 -keep class org.geometerplus.zlibrary.core.encodings.JavaEncodingCollection
diff --git a/project.properties b/project.properties
index c4a39de92..3aa40afdc 100644
--- a/project.properties
+++ b/project.properties
@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@
 # project structure.
 
 java.encoding=utf-8
-#proguard.config=proguard.cfg
+proguard.config=proguard.cfg
 # Project target.
 target=android-8
diff --git a/src/org/geometerplus/zlibrary/core/encodings/EncodingConverter.java b/src/org/geometerplus/zlibrary/core/encodings/EncodingConverter.java
index c45d473bb..fd5611ca0 100644
--- a/src/org/geometerplus/zlibrary/core/encodings/EncodingConverter.java
+++ b/src/org/geometerplus/zlibrary/core/encodings/EncodingConverter.java
@@ -25,32 +25,24 @@ import java.nio.charset.*;
 public class EncodingConverter {
 	public final String Name;
 	private CharsetDecoder myDecoder;
-	private CharsetEncoder myEncoder;
 
 	EncodingConverter(String encoding) {
 		Name = encoding;
 		myDecoder = Charset.forName(encoding).newDecoder()
 			.onMalformedInput(CodingErrorAction.REPLACE)
 			.onUnmappableCharacter(CodingErrorAction.REPLACE);
-		myEncoder = Charset.forName("utf-8").newEncoder();
 	}
 
 	// we assume out is large enough for this conversion
-	// returns number of filled bytes in out buffer
-	public int convert(byte[] in, int inOffset, int inLength, byte[] out, int outOffset) {
+	// returns number of filled chars in out buffer
+	public int convert(byte[] in, int inOffset, int inLength, char[] out) {
 		final ByteBuffer inBuffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(in, inOffset, inLength);
-		final ByteBuffer outBuffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(out, outOffset, out.length - outOffset);
-		try {
-			final CharBuffer charBuffer = myDecoder.decode(inBuffer);
-			myEncoder.encode(charBuffer, outBuffer, true);
-		} catch (CharacterCodingException e) {
-			e.printStackTrace();
-		}
+		final CharBuffer outBuffer = CharBuffer.wrap(out, 0, out.length);
+		myDecoder.decode(inBuffer, outBuffer, false);
 		return outBuffer.position();
 	}
 
 	public void reset() {
 		myDecoder.reset();
-		myEncoder.reset();
 	}
 }