Index: src/java/org/apache/nutch/util/EncodingDetector.java
===================================================================
--- src/java/org/apache/nutch/util/EncodingDetector.java	(revision 1138878)
+++ src/java/org/apache/nutch/util/EncodingDetector.java	(working copy)
@@ -307,11 +307,16 @@
   }
 
   public static String resolveEncodingAlias(String encoding) {
-    if (encoding == null || !Charset.isSupported(encoding))
+    try {
+      if (encoding == null || !Charset.isSupported(encoding))
+        return null;
+      String canonicalName = new String(Charset.forName(encoding).name());
+      return ALIASES.containsKey(canonicalName) ? ALIASES.get(canonicalName)
+                                                : canonicalName;
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      LOG.warn("Invalid encoding " + encoding + " detected, using default.");
       return null;
-    String canonicalName = new String(Charset.forName(encoding).name());
-    return ALIASES.containsKey(canonicalName) ? ALIASES.get(canonicalName)
-                                              : canonicalName;
+    }
   }
 
   /**