diff --git a/lib/defaults.js b/lib/defaults.js
index 04de40c20e..fb96bdbd13 100644
--- a/lib/defaults.js
+++ b/lib/defaults.js
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ var defaults = {
       return data.toString();
     }
     if (utils.isObject(data) || (headers && headers['Content-Type'] === 'application/json')) {
-      setContentTypeIfUnset(headers, 'application/json;charset=utf-8');
+      setContentTypeIfUnset(headers, 'application/json');
       return JSON.stringify(data);
     }
     return data;
diff --git a/test/specs/headers.spec.js b/test/specs/headers.spec.js
index c9c768def2..c1d10d7b89 100644
--- a/test/specs/headers.spec.js
+++ b/test/specs/headers.spec.js
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ describe('headers', function () {
     });
 
     getAjaxRequest().then(function (request) {
-      testHeaderValue(request.requestHeaders, 'Content-Type', 'application/json;charset=utf-8');
+      testHeaderValue(request.requestHeaders, 'Content-Type', 'application/json');
       done();
     });
   });
diff --git a/test/unit/adapters/http.js b/test/unit/adapters/http.js
index 5c73cb19de..6d2c040e06 100644
--- a/test/unit/adapters/http.js
+++ b/test/unit/adapters/http.js
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@ describe('supports http with nodejs', function () {
     };
 
     server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
-      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json;charset=utf-8');
+      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
       res.end(JSON.stringify(data));
     }).listen(4444, function () {
       axios.get('http://localhost:4444/').then(function (res) {
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ describe('supports http with nodejs', function () {
     };
 
     server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
-      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json;charset=utf-8');
+      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
       var bomBuffer = Buffer.from([0xEF, 0xBB, 0xBF])
       var jsonBuffer = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(data));
       res.end(Buffer.concat([bomBuffer, jsonBuffer]));
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ describe('supports http with nodejs', function () {
     zlib.gzip(JSON.stringify(data), function (err, zipped) {
 
       server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
-        res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json;charset=utf-8');
+        res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
         res.setHeader('Content-Encoding', 'gzip');
         res.end(zipped);
       }).listen(4444, function () {
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ describe('supports http with nodejs', function () {
 
   it('should support gunzip error handling', function (done) {
     server = http.createServer(function (req, res) {
-      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json;charset=utf-8');
+      res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
       res.setHeader('Content-Encoding', 'gzip');
       res.end('invalid response');
     }).listen(4444, function () {