diff --git a/docs/servers/resources.mdx b/docs/servers/resources.mdx
index 0a8a772aa..77843f252 100644
--- a/docs/servers/resources.mdx
+++ b/docs/servers/resources.mdx
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ if data_dir_path.is_dir():
 
 -   `TextResource`: For simple string content.
 -   `BinaryResource`: For raw `bytes` content.
--   `FileResource`: Reads content from a local file path. Handles text/binary modes and lazy reading.
+-   `FileResource`: Reads content from a local file path. Handles text/binary modes, encoding, and lazy reading.
 -   `HttpResource`: Fetches content from an HTTP(S) URL (requires `httpx`).
 -   `DirectoryResource`: Lists files in a local directory (returns JSON).
 -   (`FunctionResource`: Internal class used by `@mcp.resource`).
diff --git a/src/fastmcp/resources/types.py b/src/fastmcp/resources/types.py
index 72e2bdd9e..ed514c5ce 100644
--- a/src/fastmcp/resources/types.py
+++ b/src/fastmcp/resources/types.py
@@ -65,6 +65,14 @@ class FileResource(Resource):
         default="text/plain",
         description="MIME type of the resource content",
     )
+    encoding: str | None = Field(
+        default="utf-8",
+        description=(
+            "Encoding to use when reading text files. "
+            "Defaults to 'utf-8' for cross-platform compatibility. "
+            "Set to None to use the system default encoding."
+        ),
+    )
 
     @property
     def _async_path(self) -> AsyncPath:
@@ -94,7 +102,7 @@ class FileResource(Resource):
             if self.is_binary:
                 content: str | bytes = await self._async_path.read_bytes()
             else:
-                content = await self._async_path.read_text()
+                content = await self._async_path.read_text(encoding=self.encoding)
             return ResourceResult(
                 contents=[ResourceContent(content=content, mime_type=self.mime_type)]
             )
diff --git a/tests/resources/test_file_resources.py b/tests/resources/test_file_resources.py
index e67e06802..cf8fb0c14 100644
--- a/tests/resources/test_file_resources.py
+++ b/tests/resources/test_file_resources.py
@@ -119,3 +119,63 @@ class TestFileResource:
                 await resource.read()
         finally:
             temp_file.chmod(0o644)  # Restore permissions
+
+    async def test_read_utf8_with_encoding(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """FileResource should read UTF-8 files correctly when encoding is specified."""
+        content = (
+            "Smart quotes: \u201cleft\u201d and apostrophe\u2019s em-dash\u2014here"
+        )
+        file = tmp_path / "utf8_test.md"
+        file.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8")
+
+        resource = FileResource(
+            uri=FileUrl("file:///test/utf8"),
+            path=file,
+            mime_type="text/markdown",
+            encoding="utf-8",
+        )
+        result = await resource.read()
+        assert result.contents[0].content == content
+
+    async def test_default_encoding_is_utf8(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """FileResource defaults to UTF-8, reading non-ASCII without explicit encoding."""
+        content = "Smart quotes: \u201cleft\u201d and em-dash\u2014here"
+        file = tmp_path / "default_utf8_test.txt"
+        file.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8")
+
+        resource = FileResource(
+            uri=FileUrl("file:///test/default"),
+            path=file,
+        )
+        assert resource.encoding == "utf-8"
+        result = await resource.read()
+        assert result.contents[0].content == content
+
+    async def test_encoding_ignored_for_binary(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """Encoding field should be ignored when is_binary=True."""
+        data = b"\x00\x01\x02\xff"
+        file = tmp_path / "binary_test.bin"
+        file.write_bytes(data)
+
+        resource = FileResource(
+            uri=FileUrl("file:///test/binary"),
+            path=file,
+            mime_type="application/octet-stream",
+            encoding="utf-8",
+        )
+        result = await resource.read()
+        assert result.contents[0].content == data
+
+    async def test_read_latin1_with_encoding(self, tmp_path: Path):
+        """FileResource should read non-UTF-8 files when correct encoding is specified."""
+        content = "na\u00efve"
+        file = tmp_path / "latin1_test.txt"
+        file.write_text(content, encoding="latin-1")
+
+        resource = FileResource(
+            uri=FileUrl("file:///test/latin1"),
+            path=file,
+            encoding="latin-1",
+        )
+        result = await resource.read()
+        assert result.contents[0].content == content