diff --git a/servant-server/test/Servant/ServerSpec.hs b/servant-server/test/Servant/ServerSpec.hs
index eaf25de3..17c2f7d1 100644
--- a/servant-server/test/Servant/ServerSpec.hs
+++ b/servant-server/test/Servant/ServerSpec.hs
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ verbSpec = describe "Servant.API.Verb" $ do
           it "sets the Content-Type header" $ do
             response <- THW.request method "" [] ""
             liftIO $ simpleHeaders response `shouldContain`
-              [("Content-Type", "application/json")]
+              [("Content-Type", "application/json;charset=utf-8")]
 
   test "GET 200" get200 methodGet 200
   test "POST 210" post210 methodPost 210
diff --git a/servant/CHANGELOG.md b/servant/CHANGELOG.md
index f7f7988b..4c089f42 100644
--- a/servant/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/servant/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,12 @@
   ([#345](https://github.com/haskell-servant/servant/pull/345))
   ([#305](https://github.com/haskell-servant/servant/issues/305))
 
+* Default JSON content type change to `application/json;charset=utf-8`.
+  ([#263](https://github.com/haskell-servant/servant/issues/263))
+  Related browser bugs:
+  [Chromium](https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=438464) and
+  [Firefox](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=918742)
+
 0.9.1
 ------
 
diff --git a/servant/src/Servant/API/ContentTypes.hs b/servant/src/Servant/API/ContentTypes.hs
index 504fd397..d13d9951 100644
--- a/servant/src/Servant/API/ContentTypes.hs
+++ b/servant/src/Servant/API/ContentTypes.hs
@@ -130,7 +130,9 @@ class Accept ctype where
 
 -- | @application/json@
 instance Accept JSON where
-    contentType _ = "application" M.// "json"
+    contentTypes _ =
+      "application" M.// "json" M./: ("charset", "utf-8") NE.:|
+      [ "application" M.// "json" ]
 
 -- | @application/x-www-form-urlencoded@
 instance Accept FormUrlEncoded where
diff --git a/servant/test/Servant/API/ContentTypesSpec.hs b/servant/test/Servant/API/ContentTypesSpec.hs
index 07fb5438..74bc09c5 100644
--- a/servant/test/Servant/API/ContentTypesSpec.hs
+++ b/servant/test/Servant/API/ContentTypesSpec.hs
@@ -115,21 +115,21 @@ spec = describe "Servant.API.ContentTypes" $ do
 
         it "returns the Content-Type as the first element of the tuple" $ do
             handleAcceptH (Proxy :: Proxy '[JSON]) "*/*" (3 :: Int)
-                `shouldSatisfy` ((== "application/json") . fst . fromJust)
+                `shouldSatisfy` ((== "application/json;charset=utf-8") . fst . fromJust)
             handleAcceptH (Proxy :: Proxy '[PlainText, JSON]) "application/json" (3 :: Int)
-                `shouldSatisfy` ((== "application/json") . fst . fromJust)
+                `shouldSatisfy` ((== "application/json;charset=utf-8") . fst . fromJust)
             handleAcceptH (Proxy :: Proxy '[PlainText, JSON, OctetStream])
                 "application/octet-stream" ("content" :: ByteString)
                 `shouldSatisfy` ((== "application/octet-stream") . fst . fromJust)
 
         it "returns the appropriately serialized representation" $ do
             property $ \x -> handleAcceptH (Proxy :: Proxy '[JSON]) "*/*" (x :: SomeData)
-                == Just ("application/json", encode x)
+                == Just ("application/json;charset=utf-8", encode x)
 
         it "respects the Accept spec ordering" $ do
             let highest a b c = maximumBy (compare `on` snd)
                         [ ("application/octet-stream", a)
-                        , ("application/json", b)
+                        , ("application/json;charset=utf-8", b)
                         , ("text/plain;charset=utf-8", c)
                         ]
             let acceptH a b c = addToAccept (Proxy :: Proxy OctetStream) a $