diff --git a/.eslintrc.yml b/.eslintrc.yml
index 2eabecba..241b9d56 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.yml
+++ b/.eslintrc.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 extends: "eslint:recommended"
 parserOptions:
-  ecmaVersion: 8
+  ecmaVersion: 2020
   sourceType: "module"
 env:
   node: true
diff --git a/lib/resource-handler/css/index.js b/lib/resource-handler/css/index.js
index e76b60c0..9196bafa 100644
--- a/lib/resource-handler/css/index.js
+++ b/lib/resource-handler/css/index.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import CssText from './../path-containers/css-text.js';
+import { getCharsetFromCss, updateResourceEncoding } from '../../utils/index.js';
 
 class CssResourceHandler {
 	constructor (options, methods) {
@@ -7,12 +8,21 @@ class CssResourceHandler {
 		this.updateMissingSources = this.options.updateMissingSources === true || Array.isArray(this.options.updateMissingSources);
 	}
 
-	handle (resource) {
+	async handle (resource) {
+		prepareToLoad(resource);
+
 		const pathContainer = new CssText(resource.getText());
-		return this.downloadChildrenPaths(pathContainer, resource, this.updateMissingSources).then(function updateText (updatedText) {
-			resource.setText(updatedText);
-			return resource;
-		});
+
+		const updatedText = await this.downloadChildrenPaths(pathContainer, resource, this.updateMissingSources);
+		resource.setText(updatedText);
+		return resource;
+	}
+}
+
+function prepareToLoad (resource) {
+	const charset = getCharsetFromCss(resource.getText());
+	if (charset && charset === 'utf-8') { // do we need to support more charsets here?
+		updateResourceEncoding(resource, 'utf8');
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/resource-handler/html/index.js b/lib/resource-handler/html/index.js
index 4c1d6a7a..3e56b9f5 100644
--- a/lib/resource-handler/html/index.js
+++ b/lib/resource-handler/html/index.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import cheerio from 'cheerio';
-import { union, getUrl, series } from '../../utils/index.js';
+import { union, getUrl, series, updateResourceEncoding } from '../../utils/index.js';
 import logger from '../../logger.js';
 import HtmlSourceElement from './html-source-element.js';
 
@@ -23,9 +23,8 @@ class HtmlResourceHandler {
 	}
 
 	async handle (resource) {
+		prepareToLoad(resource);
 		const $ = loadTextToCheerio(resource.getText());
-		prepareToLoad($, resource);
-
 		const sourceRulesLoadPromises = this.allSources.map(
 			rule => this.loadResourcesForRule.bind(this, $, resource, rule)
 		);
@@ -68,16 +67,29 @@ class HtmlResourceHandler {
 	}
 }
 
-function prepareToLoad ($, resource) {
-	$('base').each((i, element) => {
+function prepareToLoad (resource) {
+	const $ = loadTextToCheerio(resource.getText());
+
+	$('base[href]').each((i, element) => {
 		const el = $(element);
 		const href = el.attr('href');
 		if (href) {
 			const newUrl = getUrl(resource.getUrl(), href);
+			logger.debug(`<base> tag found in resource ${resource}, changing url to ${newUrl}`);
 			resource.setUrl(newUrl);
+			
 			el.remove();
+			resource.setText($.html());
 		}
 	});
+
+	$('meta[charset]').each((i, element) => {
+		const el = $(element);
+		const charset = el.attr('charset')?.toLowerCase();
+		if (charset && charset === 'utf-8') { // utf-8 is the only valid value for html5 documents
+			updateResourceEncoding(resource, 'utf8');
+		}
+	});	
 }
 
 function loadTextToCheerio (text) {
diff --git a/lib/resource.js b/lib/resource.js
index ae78886c..c57ebf1d 100644
--- a/lib/resource.js
+++ b/lib/resource.js
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class Resource {
 	}
 
 	toString () {
-		return '{ url: "' + this.getUrl() + '", filename: "' + this.getFilename() + '", depth: ' + this.getDepth() + ' }';
+		return `{ url: "${this.getUrl()}", filename: "${this.getFilename()}", depth: ${this.getDepth()}, type: "${this.getType()}" }`;
 	}
 
 	isSaved () {
diff --git a/lib/scraper.js b/lib/scraper.js
index e14a3d4d..ff2d810d 100644
--- a/lib/scraper.js
+++ b/lib/scraper.js
@@ -170,7 +170,6 @@ class Scraper {
 					self.requestedResourcePromises.set(responseData.url, requestPromise);
 				}
 
-				resource.setEncoding(responseData.encoding);
 				resource.setType(getTypeByMime(responseData.mimeType));
 
 				const { filename } = await self.runActions('generateFilename', { resource, responseData });
@@ -185,7 +184,9 @@ class Scraper {
 					resource.setMetadata(responseData.metadata);
 				}
 
+				resource.setEncoding(responseData.encoding);
 				resource.setText(responseData.body);
+
 				self.loadResource(resource); // Add resource to list for future downloading, see Scraper.waitForLoad
 				return resource;
 			}).catch(function handleError (err) {
diff --git a/lib/utils/index.js b/lib/utils/index.js
index 97c4b7be..27f42779 100644
--- a/lib/utils/index.js
+++ b/lib/utils/index.js
@@ -161,6 +161,32 @@ async function series (promises) {
 	return results;
 }
 
+function getCharsetFromCss (cssText) {
+	const CHARSET_REGEXP = /(?:@charset\s)(("(.*?)")|('(.*?)'))[\s;]/;
+	const hasCharset = cssText.startsWith('@charset');
+
+	if (hasCharset) {
+		const charsetMatch = CHARSET_REGEXP.exec(cssText);
+		const charset = charsetMatch?.[3] || charsetMatch?.[5];
+		return charset?.toLowerCase() ?? null;
+	} else {
+		return null;
+	}
+}
+
+function updateResourceEncoding (resource, encoding) {
+	logger.debug(`updating encoding of resource ${resource} to ${encoding}`);
+
+	const resourceText = resource.getText();
+
+	if (resourceText) {
+		const updatedText = Buffer.from(resourceText, resource.getEncoding()).toString(encoding);
+		resource.setText(updatedText);
+	}
+	
+	resource.setEncoding(encoding);
+}
+
 export {
 	isUrl,
 	getUrl,
@@ -181,5 +207,7 @@ export {
 	extend,
 	union,
 	isPlainObject,
-	series
+	series,
+	getCharsetFromCss,
+	updateResourceEncoding
 };
diff --git a/test/functional/encoding/hieroglyphs.test.js b/test/functional/encoding/encoding.test.js
similarity index 50%
rename from test/functional/encoding/hieroglyphs.test.js
rename to test/functional/encoding/encoding.test.js
index 57f5004d..b8c3db5f 100644
--- a/test/functional/encoding/hieroglyphs.test.js
+++ b/test/functional/encoding/encoding.test.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import scrape from 'website-scraper';
 const testDirname = './test/functional/encoding/.tmp';
 const mockDirname = './test/functional/encoding/mocks';
 
-describe('Functional: UTF8 characters are properly encoded/decoded', () => {
+describe('Functional: encoding', () => {
 	const options = {
 		urls: [
 			'http://example.com/',
@@ -26,11 +26,22 @@ describe('Functional: UTF8 characters are properly encoded/decoded', () => {
 		await fs.rm(testDirname, { recursive: true, force: true });
 	});
 
-	beforeEach(() => {
-		nock('http://example.com/').get('/').replyWithFile(200, mockDirname + '/index.html', {'content-type': 'text/html; charset=utf-8'});
+	it('should save the page with enconding from http response headers', async () => {
+		nock('http://example.com/').get('/').replyWithFile(200, mockDirname + '/without-charset.html', {'content-type': 'text/html; charset=utf-8'});
+
+		await scrape(options);
+
+		const scrapedIndex = await fs.readFile(testDirname + '/index.html', { encoding: 'utf8' });
+		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-korean">저는 7년 동안 한국에서 살았어요.</div>');
+		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Слава Україні!</div>');
+		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-chinese">加入网站</div>');
+		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Обладнання та ПЗ</div>');
+		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-french">PAR PASSION DU VÉLO</div>');
 	});
 
-	it('should save the page in the same data as it was originally', async () => {
+	it('should save the page with enconding from html meta tag', async () => {
+		nock('http://example.com/').get('/').replyWithFile(200, mockDirname + '/with-charset.html', {'content-type': 'text/html'});
+
 		await scrape(options);
 
 		const scrapedIndex = await fs.readFile(testDirname + '/index.html', { encoding: 'utf8' });
@@ -38,5 +49,6 @@ describe('Functional: UTF8 characters are properly encoded/decoded', () => {
 		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Слава Україні!</div>');
 		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-chinese">加入网站</div>');
 		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Обладнання та ПЗ</div>');
+		scrapedIndex.should.be.containEql('<div id="special-characters-french">PAR PASSION DU VÉLO</div>');
 	});
 });
diff --git a/test/functional/encoding/mocks/index.html b/test/functional/encoding/mocks/with-charset.html
similarity index 86%
rename from test/functional/encoding/mocks/index.html
rename to test/functional/encoding/mocks/with-charset.html
index 8874cc53..112d6674 100644
--- a/test/functional/encoding/mocks/index.html
+++ b/test/functional/encoding/mocks/with-charset.html
@@ -9,5 +9,6 @@
     <div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Слава Україні!</div>
     <div id="special-characters-chinese">加入网站</div>
     <div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Обладнання та ПЗ</div>
+    <div id="special-characters-french">PAR PASSION DU VÉLO</div>
 </body>
 </html>
diff --git a/test/functional/encoding/mocks/without-charset.html b/test/functional/encoding/mocks/without-charset.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3a0344c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/functional/encoding/mocks/without-charset.html
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <title>Test</title>
+</head>
+<body>
+    <div id="special-characters-korean">저는 7년 동안 한국에서 살았어요.</div>
+    <div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Слава Україні!</div>
+    <div id="special-characters-chinese">加入网站</div>
+    <div id="special-characters-ukrainian">Обладнання та ПЗ</div>
+    <div id="special-characters-french">PAR PASSION DU VÉLO</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/test/unit/plugins.test.js b/test/unit/plugins.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/test/unit/resource-handler/css.test.js b/test/unit/resource-handler/css.test.js
index 13b1eec3..5dc4dbdd 100644
--- a/test/unit/resource-handler/css.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/resource-handler/css.test.js
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ describe('ResourceHandler: Css', () => {
 		const downloadChildrenPaths = sinon.stub().resolves('updated text');
 
 		const originalResource = new Resource('http://example.com');
+		originalResource.setText('original css text');
 		const cssHandler = new CssResourceHandler({}, {downloadChildrenPaths});
 
 		return cssHandler.handle(originalResource).then((updatedResource) => {
@@ -15,4 +16,17 @@ describe('ResourceHandler: Css', () => {
 			should(updatedResource.getText()).be.eql('updated text');
 		});
 	});
+
+	it('should update resource encoding if charset found', () => {
+		const downloadChildrenPaths = sinon.stub().resolves('updated text');
+
+		const originalResource = new Resource('http://example.com');
+		originalResource.setText('@charset "UTF-8";');
+		const cssHandler = new CssResourceHandler({}, {downloadChildrenPaths});
+
+		return cssHandler.handle(originalResource).then((updatedResource) => {
+			should(updatedResource).be.equal(originalResource);
+			should(updatedResource.getEncoding()).be.eql('utf8');
+		});
+	});
 });
diff --git a/test/unit/resource-handler/html.test.js b/test/unit/resource-handler/html.test.js
index eefe6a35..0882c4e0 100644
--- a/test/unit/resource-handler/html.test.js
+++ b/test/unit/resource-handler/html.test.js
@@ -125,6 +125,28 @@ describe('ResourceHandler: Html', () => {
 		});
 	});
 
+	describe('<meta> tag', () => {
+		beforeEach(() => {
+			htmlHandler = new HtmlHandler({ sources: [] }, {downloadChildrenPaths});
+		});
+
+		it('should change encoding of resouce if html contains <meta> with charset attr', async () => {
+			const html = `
+				<html lang="en">
+				<head>
+					<meta charset="UTF-8">
+				</head>
+				<body></body> 
+				</html>
+			`;
+			const resource = new Resource('http://example.com', 'index.html');
+			resource.setText(html);
+
+			await htmlHandler.handle(resource);
+			should(resource.getEncoding()).eql('utf8');
+		});
+	});
+
 	it('should not encode text to html entities', () => {
 		htmlHandler = new HtmlHandler({ sources: [] }, {downloadChildrenPaths});
 		const html = `
diff --git a/test/unit/utils/utils-test.js b/test/unit/utils/utils-test.js
index 80aab4a0..710bb3bd 100644
--- a/test/unit/utils/utils-test.js
+++ b/test/unit/utils/utils-test.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ import {
 	getFilepathFromUrl, getHashFromUrl, getRelativePath,
 	shortenFilename, prettifyFilename,
 	isUriSchemaSupported, urlsEqual,
-	normalizeUrl
+	normalizeUrl, getCharsetFromCss
 } from '../../../lib/utils/index.js';
 
 describe('Utils', function () {
@@ -231,4 +231,28 @@ describe('Utils', function () {
 			should(normalizeUrl(malformedUrl)).be.eql(malformedUrl);
 		});
 	});
+
+	describe('#getCharsetFromCss', () => {
+		it('should return charset from the beginning of css (inside double quotes)', () => {
+			const cssText = '@charset "UTF-8"; ';
+			should(getCharsetFromCss(cssText)).be.eql('utf-8');
+		});
+
+		it('should return charset from the beginning of css (inside single quotes)', () => {
+			const cssText = `@charset 'UTF-8'; `;
+			should(getCharsetFromCss(cssText)).be.eql('utf-8');
+		});
+
+		it('should return null if no charset', () => {
+			const cssText = `h1 {color: red};`;
+			should(getCharsetFromCss(cssText)).be.eql(null);
+		});
+
+		it('should return null if charset is not valid', () => {
+			should(getCharsetFromCss('@charset  "UTF-8"; ')).be.eql(null);
+			should(getCharsetFromCss('  @charset  "UTF-8"; ')).be.eql(null);
+			should(getCharsetFromCss('@charset UTF-8;')).be.eql(null);
+			should(getCharsetFromCss('h1 {color: red}; @charset "UTF-8";')).be.eql(null);
+		});
+	});
 });