diff --git a/doc/api.html b/doc/api.html
index 5483bc8582..dcae34f3ad 100644
--- a/doc/api.html
+++ b/doc/api.html
@@ -815,8 +815,6 @@ Read data from the file specified by <tt>fd</tt>.
 bytes to read.</p></div>
 <div class="paragraph"><p><tt>position</tt> is an integer specifying where to begin
 reading from in the file.</p></div>
-<div class="paragraph"><p><tt>encoding</tt> is either <tt>node.UTF8</tt>
-or <tt>node.RAW</tt>.</p></div>
 <div class="ulist"><ul>
 <li>
 <p>
@@ -1863,7 +1861,7 @@ init (Handle&lt;Object&gt; target)
 <div id="footer">
 <div id="footer-text">
 Version 0.1.10<br />
-Last updated 2009-09-12 19:12:41 CEST
+Last updated 2009-09-13 18:25:27 CEST
 </div>
 </div>
 </body>
diff --git a/doc/api.txt b/doc/api.txt
index 0c46f5160d..9928e25eef 100644
--- a/doc/api.txt
+++ b/doc/api.txt
@@ -499,9 +499,6 @@ bytes to read.
 +position+ is an integer specifying where to begin
 reading from in the file.
 +
-+encoding+ is either +node.UTF8+
-or +node.RAW+.
-+
 - on success: returns +data, bytes_read+, what was read from the file.
 - on error: no parameters.
 
diff --git a/doc/node.1 b/doc/node.1
index 3dfc899f25..9ae853dfbc 100644
--- a/doc/node.1
+++ b/doc/node.1
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 .\"     Title: node
 .\"    Author: 
 .\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.73.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
-.\"      Date: 09/12/2009
+.\"      Date: 09/13/2009
 .\"    Manual: 
 .\"    Source: 
 .\"
-.TH "NODE" "1" "09/12/2009" "" ""
+.TH "NODE" "1" "09/13/2009" "" ""
 .\" disable hyphenation
 .nh
 .\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
@@ -732,12 +732,6 @@ is an integer specifying the number of bytes to read\.
 position
 is an integer specifying where to begin reading from in the file\.
 .sp
-encoding
-is either
-node\.UTF8
-or
-node\.RAW\.
-.sp
 .RS 4
 \h'-04'\(bu\h'+03'on success: returns
 data, bytes_read, what was read from the file\.
diff --git a/src/constants.cc b/src/constants.cc
index 38ece60722..f486f11500 100644
--- a/src/constants.cc
+++ b/src/constants.cc
@@ -13,10 +13,6 @@ namespace node {
 using namespace v8;
 
 void DefineConstants(Handle<Object> target) {
-  NODE_DEFINE_CONSTANT(target, RAW);
-  NODE_DEFINE_CONSTANT(target, UTF8);
-  NODE_DEFINE_CONSTANT(target, ASCII);
-
   // file access modes
   NODE_DEFINE_CONSTANT(target, O_RDONLY);
   NODE_DEFINE_CONSTANT(target, O_WRONLY);
diff --git a/src/file.cc b/src/file.cc
index aa8e64513d..c5edcb8354 100644
--- a/src/file.cc
+++ b/src/file.cc
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ Write (const Arguments& args)
  * 1 length    integer. length to read
  * 2 position  if integer, position to read from in the file.
  *             if null, read from the current position
- * 3 encoding  either node.UTF8 or node.RAW
+ * 3 encoding
  */
 static Handle<Value>
 Read (const Arguments& args)
@@ -365,10 +365,7 @@ Read (const Arguments& args)
   size_t len = args[1]->IntegerValue();
   off_t pos = args[2]->IsNumber() ? args[2]->IntegerValue() : -1;
 
-  enum encoding encoding = RAW;
-  if (args[3]->IsInt32()) {
-    encoding = static_cast<enum encoding>(args[3]->Int32Value());
-  }
+  enum encoding encoding = ParseEncoding(args[3]);
 
   return scope.Close(EIOPromise::Read(fd, len, pos, encoding));
 }
diff --git a/src/file.js b/src/file.js
index 71094d4afa..25a8f89f2b 100644
--- a/src/file.js
+++ b/src/file.js
@@ -8,11 +8,9 @@ node.fs.cat = function (path, encoding) {
   var open_promise = node.fs.open(path, node.O_RDONLY, 0666);
   var cat_promise = new node.Promise();
 
-  encoding = (encoding === "raw" ? node.RAW : node.UTF8);
-
   open_promise.addErrback(function () { cat_promise.emitError(); });
   open_promise.addCallback(function (fd) {
-    var content = (encoding === node.UTF8 ? "" : []);
+    var content = (encoding === "raw" ? [] : "");
     var pos = 0;
 
     function readChunk () {