diff --git a/include/wx/xml/xml.h b/include/wx/xml/xml.h
index 7f24e71258..f65db2edf5 100644
--- a/include/wx/xml/xml.h
+++ b/include/wx/xml/xml.h
@@ -229,10 +229,8 @@ class WXDLLIMPEXP_XML wxXmlDocument : public wxObject
 {
 public:
     wxXmlDocument();
-    wxXmlDocument(const wxString& filename,
-                  const wxString& encoding = wxT("UTF-8"));
-    wxXmlDocument(wxInputStream& stream,
-                  const wxString& encoding = wxT("UTF-8"));
+    wxXmlDocument(const wxString& filename);
+    wxXmlDocument(wxInputStream& stream);
     ~wxXmlDocument() = default;
 
     wxXmlDocument(const wxXmlDocument& doc);
@@ -240,10 +238,8 @@ public:
 
     // Parses .xml file and loads data. Returns TRUE on success, FALSE
     // otherwise.
-    virtual bool Load(const wxString& filename,
-                      const wxString& encoding = wxT("UTF-8"), int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
-    virtual bool Load(wxInputStream& stream,
-                      const wxString& encoding = wxT("UTF-8"), int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
+    bool Load(const wxString& filename, int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
+    bool Load(wxInputStream& stream, int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
 
     // Saves document as .xml file.
     virtual bool Save(const wxString& filename, int indentstep = 2) const;
@@ -281,6 +277,36 @@ public:
 
     static wxVersionInfo GetLibraryVersionInfo();
 
+#ifdef WXWIN_COMPATIBILITY_3_2
+    wxDEPRECATED_MSG("Remove encoding parameter from the call")
+    wxXmlDocument(const wxString& filename,
+                  const wxString& WXUNUSED(encoding))
+        : wxXmlDocument(filename)
+    {
+    }
+
+    wxDEPRECATED_MSG("Remove encoding parameter from the call")
+    wxXmlDocument(wxInputStream& stream,
+                  const wxString& WXUNUSED(encoding))
+        : wxXmlDocument(stream)
+    {
+    }
+
+    wxDEPRECATED_MSG("Remove encoding parameter from the call")
+    bool Load(const wxString& filename,
+              const wxString& WXUNUSED(encoding), int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE)
+    {
+        return Load(filename, flags);
+    }
+
+    wxDEPRECATED_MSG("Remove encoding parameter from the call")
+    bool Load(wxInputStream& stream,
+              const wxString& WXUNUSED(encoding), int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE)
+    {
+        return Load(stream, flags);
+    }
+#endif // WXWIN_COMPATIBILITY_3_2
+
 private:
     wxString   m_version;
     wxString   m_fileEncoding;
diff --git a/interface/wx/xml/xml.h b/interface/wx/xml/xml.h
index 9c589b6eec..0d6b5a960a 100644
--- a/interface/wx/xml/xml.h
+++ b/interface/wx/xml/xml.h
@@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ enum wxXmlDocumentLoadFlag
 
     @code
     wxXmlDocument doc;
-    doc.Load("myfile.xml", "UTF-8", wxXMLDOC_KEEP_WHITESPACE_NODES);
+    doc.Load("myfile.xml", wxXMLDOC_KEEP_WHITESPACE_NODES);
 
     // myfile2.xml will be identical to myfile.xml saving it this way:
     doc.Save("myfile2.xml", wxXML_NO_INDENTATION);
@@ -711,14 +711,12 @@ public:
     /**
         Loads the given filename using the given encoding. See Load().
     */
-    wxXmlDocument(const wxString& filename,
-                  const wxString& encoding = "UTF-8");
+    wxXmlDocument(const wxString& filename);
 
     /**
         Loads the XML document from given stream using the given encoding. See Load().
     */
-    wxXmlDocument(wxInputStream& stream,
-                  const wxString& encoding = "UTF-8");
+    wxXmlDocument(wxInputStream& stream);
 
     /**
         Virtual destructor. Frees the document root node.
@@ -831,15 +829,13 @@ public:
 
         Returns true on success, false otherwise.
     */
-    virtual bool Load(const wxString& filename,
-                      const wxString& encoding = "UTF-8", int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
+    bool Load(const wxString& filename, int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
 
     /**
-        Like Load(const wxString&, const wxString&, int) but takes the data from
-        given input stream.
+        Like Load(const wxString&, int) but takes the data from given input
+        stream.
     */
-    virtual bool Load(wxInputStream& stream,
-                      const wxString& encoding = "UTF-8", int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
+    bool Load(wxInputStream& stream, int flags = wxXMLDOC_NONE);
 
     /**
         Saves XML tree creating a file named with given string.
diff --git a/src/richtext/richtextxml.cpp b/src/richtext/richtextxml.cpp
index 3e322c31ad..66c5ecc8f4 100644
--- a/src/richtext/richtextxml.cpp
+++ b/src/richtext/richtextxml.cpp
@@ -76,10 +76,7 @@ bool wxRichTextXMLHandler::DoLoadFile(wxRichTextBuffer *buffer, wxInputStream& s
     wxXmlDocument* xmlDoc = new wxXmlDocument;
     bool success = true;
 
-    // This is the encoding to convert to (memory encoding rather than file encoding)
-    wxString encoding(wxT("UTF-8"));
-
-    if (!xmlDoc->Load(stream, encoding))
+    if (!xmlDoc->Load(stream))
     {
         buffer->ResetAndClearCommands();
         success = false;
diff --git a/src/xml/xml.cpp b/src/xml/xml.cpp
index b1971eb3a1..769f84db41 100644
--- a/src/xml/xml.cpp
+++ b/src/xml/xml.cpp
@@ -444,16 +444,16 @@ wxXmlDocument::wxXmlDocument()
 {
 }
 
-wxXmlDocument::wxXmlDocument(const wxString& filename, const wxString& encoding)
+wxXmlDocument::wxXmlDocument(const wxString& filename)
               :wxObject()
 {
-    Load(filename, encoding);
+    Load(filename);
 }
 
-wxXmlDocument::wxXmlDocument(wxInputStream& stream, const wxString& encoding)
+wxXmlDocument::wxXmlDocument(wxInputStream& stream)
               :wxObject()
 {
-    Load(stream, encoding);
+    Load(stream);
 }
 
 wxXmlDocument::wxXmlDocument(const wxXmlDocument& doc)
@@ -482,12 +482,12 @@ void wxXmlDocument::DoCopy(const wxXmlDocument& doc)
         m_docNode.reset();
 }
 
-bool wxXmlDocument::Load(const wxString& filename, const wxString& encoding, int flags)
+bool wxXmlDocument::Load(const wxString& filename, int flags)
 {
     wxFileInputStream stream(filename);
     if (!stream.IsOk())
         return false;
-    return Load(stream, encoding, flags);
+    return Load(stream, flags);
 }
 
 bool wxXmlDocument::Save(const wxString& filename, int indentstep) const
@@ -820,10 +820,8 @@ static int UnknownEncodingHnd(void * WXUNUSED(encodingHandlerData),
 
 } // extern "C"
 
-bool wxXmlDocument::Load(wxInputStream& stream, const wxString& encoding, int flags)
+bool wxXmlDocument::Load(wxInputStream& stream, int flags)
 {
-    (void)encoding;
-
     const size_t BUFSIZE = 1024;
     char buf[BUFSIZE];
     wxXmlParsingContext ctx;
diff --git a/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp b/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp
index c8d4f6e87a..20ce5e75c8 100644
--- a/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp
+++ b/src/xrc/xmlres.cpp
@@ -800,10 +800,8 @@ wxXmlDocument *wxXmlResource::DoLoadFile(const wxString& filename)
         return nullptr;
     }
 
-    wxString encoding(wxT("UTF-8"));
-
     std::unique_ptr<wxXmlDocument> doc(new wxXmlDocument);
-    if (!doc->Load(*stream, encoding))
+    if (!doc->Load(*stream))
     {
         wxLogError(_("Cannot load resources from file '%s'."), filename);
         return nullptr;
diff --git a/tests/xml/xmltest.cpp b/tests/xml/xmltest.cpp
index f09d887d75..ac9dee4b3c 100644
--- a/tests/xml/xmltest.cpp
+++ b/tests/xml/xmltest.cpp
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ void XmlTestCase::LoadSave()
     ;
 
     wxStringInputStream sisp(xmlTextProlog);
-    CPPUNIT_ASSERT( doc.Load(sisp, "UTF-8") );
+    CPPUNIT_ASSERT( doc.Load(sisp) );
 
     wxStringOutputStream sosp;
     CPPUNIT_ASSERT( doc.Save(sosp) );
diff --git a/tests/xml/xrctest.cpp b/tests/xml/xrctest.cpp
index 53445e8609..2e85ae0cd1 100644
--- a/tests/xml/xrctest.cpp
+++ b/tests/xml/xrctest.cpp
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ static const char *TEST_XRC_FILE = "test.xrc";
 void LoadXrcFrom(const wxString& xrcText)
 {
     wxStringInputStream sis(xrcText);
-    std::unique_ptr<wxXmlDocument> xmlDoc(new wxXmlDocument(sis, "UTF-8"));
+    std::unique_ptr<wxXmlDocument> xmlDoc(new wxXmlDocument(sis));
     REQUIRE( xmlDoc->IsOk() );
 
     // Load the xrc we've just created
@@ -294,7 +294,7 @@ TEST_CASE("XRC::EnvVarInPath", "[xrc]")
         "<root><bitmap>$(WX_TEST_ENV_IN_PATH).bmp</bitmap></root>"
 #endif
     );
-    wxXmlDocument xmlDoc(sis, "UTF-8");
+    wxXmlDocument xmlDoc(sis);
     REQUIRE( xmlDoc.IsOk() );
 
     class wxTestEnvXmlHandler : public wxXmlResourceHandler