diff --git a/lib/core/convert.py b/lib/core/convert.py
index 71afeb0ae..4337e0525 100644
--- a/lib/core/convert.py
+++ b/lib/core/convert.py
@@ -238,7 +238,7 @@ def getBytes(value, encoding=None, errors="strict", unsafe=True):
     retVal = value
 
     if encoding is None:
-        encoding = conf.encoding or UNICODE_ENCODING
+        encoding = conf.get("encoding") or UNICODE_ENCODING
 
     try:
         codecs.lookup(encoding)
diff --git a/lib/core/settings.py b/lib/core/settings.py
index 4a8981ce2..586fd275c 100644
--- a/lib/core/settings.py
+++ b/lib/core/settings.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ from lib.core.enums import OS
 from thirdparty.six import unichr as _unichr
 
 # sqlmap version (<major>.<minor>.<month>.<monthly commit>)
-VERSION = "1.4.1.24"
+VERSION = "1.4.1.25"
 TYPE = "dev" if VERSION.count('.') > 2 and VERSION.split('.')[-1] != '0' else "stable"
 TYPE_COLORS = {"dev": 33, "stable": 90, "pip": 34}
 VERSION_STRING = "sqlmap/%s#%s" % ('.'.join(VERSION.split('.')[:-1]) if VERSION.count('.') > 2 and VERSION.split('.')[-1] == '0' else VERSION, TYPE)
diff --git a/lib/utils/api.py b/lib/utils/api.py
index 480193148..4e30c9b6d 100644
--- a/lib/utils/api.py
+++ b/lib/utils/api.py
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ from lib.core.convert import decodeBase64
 from lib.core.convert import dejsonize
 from lib.core.convert import encodeBase64
 from lib.core.convert import encodeHex
+from lib.core.convert import getBytes
+from lib.core.convert import getText
 from lib.core.convert import jsonize
 from lib.core.data import conf
 from lib.core.data import kb
@@ -711,17 +713,19 @@ def server(host=RESTAPI_DEFAULT_ADDRESS, port=RESTAPI_DEFAULT_PORT, adapter=REST
 def _client(url, options=None):
     logger.debug("Calling '%s'" % url)
     try:
-        data = None
-        if options is not None:
-            data = jsonize(options).encode("utf-8")
         headers = {"Content-Type": "application/json"}
 
+        if options is not None:
+            data = getBytes(jsonize(options))
+        else:
+            data = None
+
         if DataStore.username or DataStore.password:
             headers["Authorization"] = "Basic %s" % encodeBase64("%s:%s" % (DataStore.username or "", DataStore.password or ""), binary=False)
 
         req = _urllib.request.Request(url, data, headers)
         response = _urllib.request.urlopen(req)
-        text = response.read().decode("utf-8")
+        text = getText(response.read())
     except:
         if options:
             logger.error("Failed to load and parse %s" % url)