diff --git a/lib/openGraphScraper.js b/lib/openGraphScraper.js
index <HASH>..<HASH> 100644
--- a/lib/openGraphScraper.js
+++ b/lib/openGraphScraper.js
@@ -136,6 +136,12 @@ const setOptionsAndReturnOpenGraphResults = async (options) => {
   options.headers = options.headers || {};
   options.responseType = options.responseType || 'buffer';
 
+  if (options.encoding === null) {
+    // eslint-disable-next-line no-console
+    console.log('Setting `options.encoding` to `null` has been deprecated. You should no longer need to do this.');
+    options.encoding = 'utf8';
+  }
+
   if (process.browser) {
     options.decompress = false;
   }
we should still support if someone is trying to use options.encoding === null