diff --git a/nibabel/cmdline/dicomfs.py b/nibabel/cmdline/dicomfs.py
index 66ffb8ade..552bb0931 100644
--- a/nibabel/cmdline/dicomfs.py
+++ b/nibabel/cmdline/dicomfs.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ class dummy_fuse:
 import nibabel as nib
 import nibabel.dft as dft
 
-encoding = locale.getdefaultlocale()[1]
+encoding = locale.getlocale()[1]
 
 fuse.fuse_python_api = (0, 2)