diff --git a/langchain/document_loaders/text.py b/langchain/document_loaders/text.py
index 0284de88614..ce7913d6d4e 100644
--- a/langchain/document_loaders/text.py
+++ b/langchain/document_loaders/text.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-"""Load text files."""
-from typing import List
+from typing import List, Optional
 
 from langchain.docstore.document import Document
 from langchain.document_loaders.base import BaseLoader
@@ -8,13 +7,14 @@ from langchain.document_loaders.base import BaseLoader
 class TextLoader(BaseLoader):
     """Load text files."""
 
-    def __init__(self, file_path: str):
+    def __init__(self, file_path: str, encoding: Optional[str] = None):
         """Initialize with file path."""
         self.file_path = file_path
+        self.encoding = encoding
 
     def load(self) -> List[Document]:
         """Load from file path."""
-        with open(self.file_path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
+        with open(self.file_path, encoding=self.encoding) as f:
             text = f.read()
         metadata = {"source": self.file_path}
         return [Document(page_content=text, metadata=metadata)]