diff --git a/langchain/package.json b/langchain/package.json
index e3f888df971a..1ac81a5a7494 100644
--- a/langchain/package.json
+++ b/langchain/package.json
@@ -544,6 +544,7 @@
     "@langchain/textsplitters": ">=0.0.0 <0.2.0",
     "js-tiktoken": "^1.0.12",
     "js-yaml": "^4.1.0",
+    "jschardet": "^3.1.4",
     "jsonpointer": "^5.0.1",
     "langsmith": ">=0.2.8 <0.4.0",
     "openapi-types": "^12.1.3",
diff --git a/langchain/src/document_loaders/fs/helpers.ts b/langchain/src/document_loaders/fs/helpers.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..95cb8f25efed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/langchain/src/document_loaders/fs/helpers.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+import * as jschardet from "jschardet";
+import * as fs from "fs";
+
+/**
+ * Represents file encoding information
+ */
+export interface FileEncoding {
+  encoding: BufferEncoding | null;
+  confidence: number;
+}
+
+const EXECUTION_TIMEOUT = 5000;
+
+/**
+ * Detects file encodings for a given file path
+ * @param filePath - Path to the file
+ * @param timeout - Timeout in milliseconds
+ * @returns Promise containing list of detected encodings ordered by confidence
+ */
+export async function detectFileEncodings(
+  filePath: fs.PathLike,
+  timeout: number = EXECUTION_TIMEOUT
+): Promise<FileEncoding[]> {
+  try {
+    // Create a promise that rejects after the timeout
+    const timeoutPromise = new Promise<never>((_, reject) => {
+      setTimeout(() => {
+        reject(
+          new Error(`Timeout reached while detecting encoding for ${filePath}`)
+        );
+      }, timeout);
+    });
+
+    // Create the detection promise
+    const detectionPromise = async (): Promise<FileEncoding[]> => {
+      const buffer = fs.readFileSync(filePath);
+      const results = jschardet.detectAll(buffer);
+
+      if (!results || results.every((result) => result.encoding === null)) {
+        throw new Error(`Could not detect encoding for ${filePath}`);
+      }
+
+      return results
+        .filter((result) => result.encoding !== null)
+        .map((result) => ({
+          encoding: result.encoding.toLowerCase() as BufferEncoding,
+          confidence: result.confidence,
+        }));
+    };
+
+    // Race between timeout and detection
+    return await Promise.race([detectionPromise(), timeoutPromise]);
+  } catch (error) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `An unknown error occurred during encoding detection ${error}`
+    );
+  }
+}
diff --git a/langchain/src/document_loaders/fs/text.ts b/langchain/src/document_loaders/fs/text.ts
index 54584b4134f2..e958bd7f0aeb 100644
--- a/langchain/src/document_loaders/fs/text.ts
+++ b/langchain/src/document_loaders/fs/text.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import type { readFile as ReadFileT } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { Document } from "@langchain/core/documents";
 import { getEnv } from "@langchain/core/utils/env";
 import { BaseDocumentLoader } from "../base.js";
+import { detectFileEncodings, FileEncoding } from "./helpers.js";
 
 /**
  * A class that extends the `BaseDocumentLoader` class. It represents a
@@ -46,9 +47,26 @@ export class TextLoader extends BaseDocumentLoader {
   public async load(): Promise<Document[]> {
     let text: string;
     let metadata: Record<string, string>;
+    let currentEncoding: BufferEncoding | null = null;
+
     if (typeof this.filePathOrBlob === "string") {
       const { readFile } = await TextLoader.imports();
-      text = await readFile(this.filePathOrBlob, "utf8");
+      const detectedEncodings: FileEncoding[] = await detectFileEncodings(
+        this.filePathOrBlob
+      );
+
+      for (const encoding of detectedEncodings) {
+        try {
+          await readFile(this.filePathOrBlob, { encoding: encoding.encoding });
+          currentEncoding = encoding.encoding;
+          break;
+        } catch (error) {
+          continue;
+        }
+      }
+      text = (await readFile(this.filePathOrBlob, {
+        encoding: currentEncoding,
+      })) as string;
       metadata = { source: this.filePathOrBlob };
     } else {
       text = await this.filePathOrBlob.text();