diff --git a/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect-tests.factor b/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect-tests.factor
index 5dbebd9001..c0d560a2e1 100644
--- a/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect-tests.factor
+++ b/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect-tests.factor
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ unit-test
 unit-test
 
 ! Default to utf8 if decoding succeeds and there are no nulls
+[ utf8 ] [ HEX{ } detect-byte-array ] unit-test
 [ utf8 ] [ HEX{ 31 32 33 } detect-byte-array ] unit-test
 [ utf8 ] [ HEX{ 31 32 C2 A0 33 } detect-byte-array ] unit-test
 [ latin1 ] [ HEX{ 31 32 A0 33 } detect-byte-array ] unit-test
@@ -41,3 +42,4 @@ unit-test
 
 [ binary ] [ HEX{ 31 32 33 C2 A0 00 } detect-byte-array ] unit-test
 [ binary ] [ HEX{ 31 32 33 C2 A0 00 30 } detect-byte-array ] unit-test
+
diff --git a/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect.factor b/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect.factor
index a803c54c53..c8b01757f8 100644
--- a/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect.factor
+++ b/extra/io/encodings/detect/detect.factor
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ PRIVATE>
         { [ dup HEX{ EF BB BF } head? ] [ drop utf8 ] }
         { [ dup $[ "<?xml" >byte-array ] head? ] [ detect-xml-prolog ] }
         { [ 0 over member? ] [ drop binary ] }
+        { [ dup empty? ] [ drop utf8 ] }
         { [ dup valid-utf8? ] [ drop utf8 ] }
         [ drop default-8bit-encoding get ]
     } cond ;