diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/schema_dumper.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/schema_dumper.rb
index 19585f6214bfc44e89b4c392c62087e01d7dbbdd..6fe305f84313a2ba047a7099125870b961abf35d 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/schema_dumper.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/schema_dumper.rb
@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ def initialize(connection)
       def header(stream)
         define_params = @version ? ":version => #{@version}" : ""
 
+        if stream.respond_to?(:external_encoding)
+          stream.puts "# encoding: #{stream.external_encoding.name}"
+        end
+
         stream.puts <<HEADER
 # This file is auto-generated from the current state of the database. Instead
 # of editing this file, please use the migrations feature of Active Record to
diff --git a/activerecord/test/cases/schema_dumper_test.rb b/activerecord/test/cases/schema_dumper_test.rb
index 4adecf8e835dc63f9eb33e207c70b6a6360db86c..5da3f59a1f330c4c4fb6151e6da5093a2f817065 100644
--- a/activerecord/test/cases/schema_dumper_test.rb
+++ b/activerecord/test/cases/schema_dumper_test.rb
@@ -3,11 +3,20 @@
 
 
 class SchemaDumperTest < ActiveRecord::TestCase
+  def setup
+    @stream = StringIO.new
+  end
+
   def standard_dump
-    stream = StringIO.new
+    @stream = StringIO.new
     ActiveRecord::SchemaDumper.ignore_tables = []
-    ActiveRecord::SchemaDumper.dump(ActiveRecord::Base.connection, stream)
-    stream.string
+    ActiveRecord::SchemaDumper.dump(ActiveRecord::Base.connection, @stream)
+    @stream.string
+  end
+
+  def test_magic_comment
+    skip "only test magic comments on 1.9" if RUBY_VERSION < '1.9'
+    assert_match "# encoding: #{@stream.external_encoding.name}", standard_dump
   end
 
   def test_schema_dump