diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java
index 3f03535cf..6f02c8037 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectInputStream.java
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 package com.threerings.io;
 
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -374,8 +376,7 @@ public class ObjectInputStream extends DataInputStream
         // read precisely that many into a buffer
         byte[] bbuf = new byte[utflen];
         in.read(bbuf);
-        return new String(bbuf, "UTF-8");
-        //return new String(bbuf, Charsets.UTF_8); // TODO Java 6 (Charsets is from guava)
+        return new String(bbuf, UTF_8);
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectOutputStream.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectOutputStream.java
index 79a209d23..4c2517713 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectOutputStream.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/io/ObjectOutputStream.java
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 package com.threerings.io;
 
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
 import java.util.Map;
 
 import java.io.DataOutputStream;
@@ -288,8 +290,7 @@ public class ObjectOutputStream extends DataOutputStream
     public void writeUnmodifiedUTF (String str)
         throws IOException
     {
-        // byte[] bytes = str.getBytes(Charsets.UTF_8); // TODO Java 6 (Charsets is from guava)
-        byte[] bytes = str.getBytes("UTF-8");
+        byte[] bytes = str.getBytes(UTF_8);
         writeShort(bytes.length);
         write(bytes);
     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/nio/PolicyServer.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/nio/PolicyServer.java
index a07ad3994..fc1c19ce7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/nio/PolicyServer.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/nio/PolicyServer.java
@@ -5,14 +5,14 @@
 
 package com.threerings.nio;
 
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.channels.SocketChannel;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 
-import com.google.common.base.Charsets;
-
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
 import com.google.inject.Singleton;
 
@@ -78,11 +78,7 @@ public class PolicyServer extends ConnectionManager
         policy.append("  <allow-access-from domain=\"*\" to-ports=\"*\"/>\n");
         policy.append("</cross-domain-policy>\n\n");
 
-        try {
-            _policy = policy.toString().getBytes("UTF-8");
-        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("UTF-8 encoding missing; this vm is broken", e);
-        }
+        _policy = policy.toString().getBytes(UTF_8);
         start();
     }
 
@@ -116,7 +112,7 @@ public class PolicyServer extends ConnectionManager
                         sendPolicy(this);
                         return buf.position();
                     }
-                    log.warning("Bad policy request", "request", new String(buf.array(), Charsets.UTF_8));
+                    log.warning("Bad policy request", "request", new String(buf.array(), UTF_8));
                     _cmgr.closeConnection(this);
 
                 } catch (IOException e) {
@@ -138,7 +134,7 @@ public class PolicyServer extends ConnectionManager
 
     protected byte[] _policy;
 
-    protected static final byte[] REQUEST = "<policy-file-request/>\0".getBytes(Charsets.UTF_8);
+    protected static final byte[] REQUEST = "<policy-file-request/>\0".getBytes(UTF_8);
 
     protected static final int MASTER_PORT = 843;
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java
index e86eaad11..34921d4c2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 package com.threerings.presents.client;
 
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
 import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InterruptedIOException;
@@ -823,7 +825,7 @@ public class BlockingCommunicator extends Communicator
                 shutdown();
                 return;
             }
-            _secret = _client.getCredentials().getDatagramSecret().getBytes("UTF-8");
+            _secret = _client.getCredentials().getDatagramSecret().getBytes(UTF_8);
 
             // create our various streams
             _bout = new ByteBufferOutputStream();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/server/net/PresentsConnection.java b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/server/net/PresentsConnection.java
index 2467bd0d0..bac340e91 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/server/net/PresentsConnection.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/server/net/PresentsConnection.java
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 
 package com.threerings.presents.server.net;
 
+import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
+
 import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -126,11 +128,7 @@ public class PresentsConnection extends Connection
      */
     public void setDatagramSecret (String secret)
     {
-        try {
-            _datagramSecret = secret.getBytes("UTF-8");
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            _datagramSecret = new byte[0]; // shouldn't happen
-        }
+        _datagramSecret = secret.getBytes(UTF_8);
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/tools/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/tools/GenTask.java b/tools/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/tools/GenTask.java
index 358ebed6f..b19c72798 100644
--- a/tools/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/tools/GenTask.java
+++ b/tools/src/main/java/com/threerings/presents/tools/GenTask.java
@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ public abstract class GenTask extends Task
         }
         log("Writing file " + outputPath, Project.MSG_VERBOSE);
 
-        new PrintWriter(dest, "UTF-8").append(output).close();
+        new PrintWriter(dest, UTF_8).append(output).close();
     }
 
     /**