diff --git a/script/boxen-git-credential b/script/boxen-git-credential
index ca69a9d..7ec62d4 100755
--- a/script/boxen-git-credential
+++ b/script/boxen-git-credential
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ require "pathname"
 
 # It's a UTF-8, UTF-8, UTF-8 world.
 
-Encoding.default_external = Encoding::UTF_8
+Encoding.default_external = Encoding::UTF_8 if RUBY_VERSION > "1.9"
 
 # Put us where we belong, in the root dir of our boxen repo.