diff --git a/solcjs b/solcjs
index fa643a95..3c014b4b 100755
--- a/solcjs
+++ b/solcjs
@@ -55,16 +55,10 @@ if (argv['standard-json']) {
     abort('Compiler does not support Standard JSON I/O');
   }
 
-  var size = fs.fstatSync(process.stdin.fd).size;
-
-  if (size <= 0) {
-    abort('Empty input was read');
-  }
-
   // This accepts integer as a parameter, where 0 corresponds to stdin_fileno
   var input = fs.readFileSync(0);
 
-  console.log(solc.compileStandard(input.toString()));
+  console.log(solc.compileStandard(input.toString('utf8')));
   process.exit(0);
 } else if (files.length === 0) {
   console.error('Must provide a file');