diff --git a/app/helpers/repositories_helper.rb b/app/helpers/repositories_helper.rb
index 69f2e2558..de017ef9b 100644
--- a/app/helpers/repositories_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/repositories_helper.rb
@@ -117,36 +117,9 @@ module RepositoriesHelper
   end
 
   def to_utf8(str)
-    return str if str.nil?
-    str = to_utf8_internal(str)
-    if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
-      str.force_encoding('UTF-8')
-    end
-    str
+    Redmine::CodesetUtil.to_utf8_by_setting(str)
   end
 
-  def to_utf8_internal(str)
-    return str if str.nil?
-    if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
-      str.force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
-    end
-    return str if str.empty?
-    return str if /\A[\r\n\t\x20-\x7e]*\Z/n.match(str) # for us-ascii
-    if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
-      str.force_encoding('UTF-8')
-    end
-    @encodings ||= Setting.repositories_encodings.split(',').collect(&:strip)
-    @encodings.each do |encoding|
-      begin
-        return Iconv.conv('UTF-8', encoding, str)
-      rescue Iconv::Failure
-        # do nothing here and try the next encoding
-      end
-    end
-    str = Redmine::CodesetUtil.replace_invalid_utf8(str)
-  end
-  private :to_utf8_internal
-
   def repository_field_tags(form, repository)
     method = repository.class.name.demodulize.underscore + "_field_tags"
     if repository.is_a?(Repository) &&
diff --git a/lib/redmine/codeset_util.rb b/lib/redmine/codeset_util.rb
index bf24080c6..b74a3a9e7 100644
--- a/lib/redmine/codeset_util.rb
+++ b/lib/redmine/codeset_util.rb
@@ -79,6 +79,40 @@ module Redmine
       str
     end
 
+    def self.to_utf8_by_setting(str)
+      return str if str.nil?
+      str = self.to_utf8_by_setting_internal(str)
+      if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
+        str.force_encoding('UTF-8')
+      end
+      str
+    end
+
+    def self.to_utf8_by_setting_internal(str)
+      return str if str.nil?
+      if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
+        str.force_encoding('ASCII-8BIT')
+      end
+      return str if str.empty?
+      return str if /\A[\r\n\t\x20-\x7e]*\Z/n.match(str) # for us-ascii
+      if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
+        str.force_encoding('UTF-8')
+      end
+      encodings = Setting.repositories_encodings.split(',').collect(&:strip)
+      encodings.each do |encoding|
+        begin
+          return Iconv.conv('UTF-8', encoding, str)
+        rescue Iconv::Failure
+          # do nothing here and try the next encoding
+        end
+      end
+      str = self.replace_invalid_utf8(str)
+      if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)
+        str.force_encoding('UTF-8')
+      end
+      str
+    end
+
     def self.from_utf8(str, encoding)
       str ||= ''
       if str.respond_to?(:force_encoding)