diff --git a/SQLToolsAPI/Connection.py b/SQLToolsAPI/Connection.py
index 2d780bb..9ab6656 100644
--- a/SQLToolsAPI/Connection.py
+++ b/SQLToolsAPI/Connection.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import shutil
 import shlex
+import codecs
 import sqlparse
 
 from .Log import Log
@@ -7,6 +8,14 @@
 from . import Command as C
 
 
+def _encoding_exists(enc):
+    try:
+        codecs.lookup(enc)
+    except LookupError:
+        return False
+    return True
+
+
 class Connection(object):
     DB_CLI_NOT_FOUND_MESSAGE = """'{0}' could not be found.
 Please set the path to '{0}' binary in your SQLTools settings before continuing.
@@ -28,7 +37,6 @@ class Connection(object):
     username = None
     password = None
     encoding = None
-    service = None
     safe_limit = None
     show_query = None
     rowsLimit = None
@@ -52,7 +60,9 @@ def __init__(self, name, options, settings=None, commandClass='ThreadCommand'):
         self.username   = options.get('username', None)
         self.password   = options.get('password', None)
         self.encoding   = options.get('encoding', 'utf-8')
-        self.service    = options.get('service', None)
+        self.encoding   = self.encoding or 'utf-8'  # defaults to utf-8
+        if not _encoding_exists(self.encoding):
+            self.encoding = 'utf-8'
 
         self.safe_limit = settings.get('safe_limit', None)
         self.show_query = settings.get('show_query', False)