diff --git a/Text/XML/Expat/SAX.hs b/Text/XML/Expat/SAX.hs
--- a/Text/XML/Expat/SAX.hs
+++ b/Text/XML/Expat/SAX.hs
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
 
 
 data ParseOptions tag text = ParseOptions
-    { defaultEncoding :: Maybe Encoding
+    { overrideEncoding :: Maybe Encoding
           -- ^ The encoding parameter, if provided, overrides the document's
           -- encoding declaration.
     , entityDecoder  :: Maybe (tag -> Maybe text)
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@
       -> L.ByteString           -- ^ Input text (a lazy ByteString)
       -> [SAXEvent tag text]
 parse opts input = unsafePerformIO $ do
-    let enc = defaultEncoding opts
+    let enc = overrideEncoding opts
     let mEntityDecoder = entityDecoder opts
 
     parser <- newParser enc
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@
                -> L.ByteString            -- ^ Input text (a lazy ByteString)
                -> [(SAXEvent tag text, XMLParseLocation)]
 parseLocations opts input = unsafePerformIO $ do
-    let enc = defaultEncoding opts
+    let enc = overrideEncoding opts
     let mEntityDecoder = entityDecoder opts
 
     -- Done with cut & paste coding for maximum speed.
diff --git a/Text/XML/Expat/Tree.hs b/Text/XML/Expat/Tree.hs
--- a/Text/XML/Expat/Tree.hs
+++ b/Text/XML/Expat/Tree.hs
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@
        -> Either XMLParseError (Node tag text)
 parse' opts doc = unsafePerformIO $ runParse where
   runParse = do
-    let enc = defaultEncoding opts
+    let enc = overrideEncoding opts
     let mEntityDecoder = entityDecoder opts
 
     parser <- newParser enc
diff --git a/hexpat.cabal b/hexpat.cabal
--- a/hexpat.cabal
+++ b/hexpat.cabal
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Cabal-Version: >= 1.6
 Name: hexpat
-Version: 0.17
+Version: 0.18
 Synopsis: XML parser/formatter based on expat
 Description:
   This package provides a general purpose Haskell XML library using Expat to
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@
   .
   ChangeLog: 0.15 changes intended to fix a (rare) \"error: a C finalizer called back into Haskell.\"
     that seemed only to happen only on ghc6.12.X; 0.15.1 Fix broken Annotated parse;
-    0.16 switch from mtl to transformers; 0.17 fix mapNodeContainer & rename some things.
+    0.16 switch from mtl to transformers; 0.17 fix mapNodeContainer & rename some things.;
+    0.18 rename defaultEncoding to overrideEncoding.
 Category: XML
 License: BSD3
 License-File: LICENSE
diff --git a/test/suite/Text/XML/Expat/UnitTests.hs b/test/suite/Text/XML/Expat/UnitTests.hs
--- a/test/suite/Text/XML/Expat/UnitTests.hs
+++ b/test/suite/Text/XML/Expat/UnitTests.hs
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@
             hPutStrLn stderr $ "parse failed: "++show error
             assertFailure descr
   where
-    popts = defaultParseOptions { defaultEncoding = Just UTF8 }
+    popts = defaultParseOptions { overrideEncoding = Just UTF8 }
 
 
 eitherify f mEnc bs = do