diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatter.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatter.cs
index 70fff6deaa..73ec63d9c4 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatter.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatter.cs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ using System.Collections.Concurrent;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Runtime.Serialization;
+using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using System.Xml;
 using Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Internal;
@@ -95,7 +96,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
         {
             var request = context.ActionContext.HttpContext.Request;
 
-            using (var xmlReader = CreateXmlReader(new NonDisposableStream(request.Body)))
+            MediaTypeHeaderValue requestContentType;
+            MediaTypeHeaderValue.TryParse(request.ContentType , out requestContentType);
+            var effectiveEncoding = SelectCharacterEncoding(requestContentType);
+
+            using (var xmlReader = CreateXmlReader(new NonDisposableStream(request.Body), effectiveEncoding))
             {
                 var type = GetSerializableType(context.ModelType);
 
@@ -131,11 +136,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
         /// Called during deserialization to get the <see cref="XmlReader"/>.
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="readStream">The <see cref="Stream"/> from which to read.</param>
+        /// <param name="encoding">The <see cref="Encoding"/> used to read the stream.</param>
         /// <returns>The <see cref="XmlReader"/> used during deserialization.</returns>
-        protected virtual XmlReader CreateXmlReader([NotNull] Stream readStream)
+        protected virtual XmlReader CreateXmlReader([NotNull] Stream readStream, [NotNull] Encoding encoding)
         {
-            return XmlDictionaryReader.CreateTextReader(
-                readStream, _readerQuotas);
+            return XmlDictionaryReader.CreateTextReader(readStream, encoding, _readerQuotas, onClose: null);
         }
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlSerializerInputFormatter.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlSerializerInputFormatter.cs
index 78a149e539..4aaaebe095 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlSerializerInputFormatter.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml/XmlSerializerInputFormatter.cs
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ using System;
 using System.Collections.Concurrent;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
 using System.IO;
+using System.Text;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using System.Xml;
 using System.Xml.Serialization;
@@ -71,7 +72,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
         {
             var request = context.ActionContext.HttpContext.Request;
 
-            using (var xmlReader = CreateXmlReader(new NonDisposableStream(request.Body)))
+            MediaTypeHeaderValue requestContentType;
+            MediaTypeHeaderValue.TryParse(request.ContentType, out requestContentType);
+            var effectiveEncoding = SelectCharacterEncoding(requestContentType);
+
+            using (var xmlReader = CreateXmlReader(new NonDisposableStream(request.Body), effectiveEncoding))
             {
                 var type = GetSerializableType(context.ModelType);
 
@@ -116,11 +121,11 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
         /// Called during deserialization to get the <see cref="XmlReader"/>.
         /// </summary>
         /// <param name="readStream">The <see cref="Stream"/> from which to read.</param>
+        /// <param name="encoding">The <see cref="Encoding"/> used to read the stream.</param>
         /// <returns>The <see cref="XmlReader"/> used during deserialization.</returns>
-        protected virtual XmlReader CreateXmlReader([NotNull] Stream readStream)
+        protected virtual XmlReader CreateXmlReader([NotNull] Stream readStream, [NotNull] Encoding encoding)
         {
-            return XmlDictionaryReader.CreateTextReader(
-                readStream, _readerQuotas);
+            return XmlDictionaryReader.CreateTextReader(readStream, encoding, _readerQuotas, onClose: null);
         }
 
         /// <summary>
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs
index 680e2c2a68..bfde8721ef 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs
@@ -289,15 +289,15 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
         }
 
         [Fact]
-        public async Task ReadAsync_ThrowsOnInvalidCharacters()
+        public async Task ReadAsync_FallsbackToUTF8_WhenCharSet_NotInContentType()
         {
             // Arrange
             var expectedException = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ? typeof(SerializationException) :
                                                                 typeof(XmlException);
             var expectedMessage = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ?
                 "Expected element 'TestLevelTwo' in namespace '', but found Element node 'DummyClass' in namespace ''" :
-                "The encoding in the declaration 'UTF-8' does not match the encoding of the document 'utf-16LE'.";
-            var inpStart = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +
+                "The expected encoding 'utf-8' does not match the actual encoding 'utf-16LE'.";
+            var inpStart = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-16\"?>" +
                 "<DummyClass><SampleInt>");
             byte[] inp = { 192, 193 };
             var inpEnd = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes("</SampleInt></DummyClass>");
@@ -315,6 +315,27 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
             Assert.Equal(expectedMessage, ex.Message);
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ReadAsync_UsesContentTypeCharSet_ToReadStream()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var expectedException = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ? typeof(SerializationException) :
+                                                                typeof(XmlException);
+            var expectedMessage = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ?
+                "Expected element 'TestLevelTwo' in namespace '', but found Element node 'DummyClass' in namespace ''" :
+                "The expected encoding 'utf-16LE' does not match the actual encoding 'utf-8'.";
+            var inputBytes = Encodings.UTF8EncodingWithoutBOM.GetBytes("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +
+                "<DummyClass><SampleInt>1000</SampleInt></DummyClass>");
+
+            var formatter = new XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatter();
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(inputBytes, contentType: "application/xml; charset=utf-16");
+            var context = new InputFormatterContext(actionContext, typeof(TestLevelOne));
+
+            // Act
+            var ex = await Assert.ThrowsAsync(expectedException, () => formatter.ReadAsync(context));
+            Assert.Equal(expectedMessage, ex.Message);
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public async Task ReadAsync_IgnoresBOMCharacters()
         {
@@ -359,8 +380,10 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
 
             var formatter = new XmlDataContractSerializerInputFormatter();
             var contentBytes = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes(input);
-            var context = GetInputFormatterContext(contentBytes, typeof(TestLevelOne));
 
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(contentBytes, contentType: "application/xml; charset=utf-16");
+            var context = new InputFormatterContext(actionContext, typeof(TestLevelOne));
+            
             // Act
             var model = await formatter.ReadAsync(context);
 
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs
index cb103062bd..212e6c48e3 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml.Test/XmlSerializerInputFormatterTest.cs
@@ -296,16 +296,16 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
         }
 
         [Fact]
-        public async Task ReadAsync_ThrowsOnInvalidCharacters()
+        public async Task ReadAsync_FallsbackToUTF8_WhenCharSet_NotInContentType()
         {
             // Arrange
             var expectedException = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ? typeof(InvalidOperationException) :
                                                                 typeof(XmlException);
             var expectedMessage = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ?
                 "There is an error in XML document." :
-                "The encoding in the declaration 'UTF-8' does not match the encoding of the document 'utf-16LE'.";
+                "The expected encoding 'utf-8' does not match the actual encoding 'utf-16LE'.";
 
-            var inpStart = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +
+            var inpStart = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-16\"?>" +
                 "<DummyClass><SampleInt>");
             byte[] inp = { 192, 193 };
             var inpEnd = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes("</SampleInt></DummyClass>");
@@ -323,6 +323,28 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
             Assert.Equal(expectedMessage, ex.Message);
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        public async Task ReadAsync_UsesContentTypeCharSet_ToReadStream()
+        {
+            // Arrange
+            var expectedException = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ? typeof(InvalidOperationException) :
+                                                                typeof(XmlException);
+            var expectedMessage = TestPlatformHelper.IsMono ?
+                "There is an error in XML document." :
+                "The expected encoding 'utf-16LE' does not match the actual encoding 'utf-8'.";
+
+            var inputBytes = Encodings.UTF8EncodingWithoutBOM.GetBytes("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +
+                "<DummyClass><SampleInt>1000</SampleInt></DummyClass>");
+            
+            var formatter = new XmlSerializerInputFormatter();
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(inputBytes, contentType: "application/xml; charset=utf-16");
+            var context = new InputFormatterContext(actionContext, typeof(TestLevelOne));
+
+            // Act and Assert
+            var ex = await Assert.ThrowsAsync(expectedException, () => formatter.ReadAsync(context));
+            Assert.Equal(expectedMessage, ex.Message);
+        }
+
         [Fact]
         public async Task ReadAsync_IgnoresBOMCharacters()
         {
@@ -369,7 +391,9 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
 
             var formatter = new XmlSerializerInputFormatter();
             var contentBytes = Encodings.UTF16EncodingLittleEndian.GetBytes(input);
-            var context = GetInputFormatterContext(contentBytes, typeof(TestLevelOne));
+
+            var actionContext = GetActionContext(contentBytes, contentType: "application/xml; charset=utf-16");
+            var context = new InputFormatterContext(actionContext, typeof(TestLevelOne));
 
             // Act
             var model = await formatter.ReadAsync(context);
@@ -398,6 +422,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc.Xml
                                      new AspNet.Routing.RouteData(),
                                      new ActionDescriptor());
         }
+
         private static HttpContext GetHttpContext(byte[] contentBytes,
                                                   string contentType = "application/xml")
         {