diff --git a/modules/aggregator.module b/modules/aggregator.module
index be29a899511..c9833e5fd19 100644
--- a/modules/aggregator.module
+++ b/modules/aggregator.module
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ function import_refresh($feed) {
     }
 
     // extract the XML file's encoding (the XML parser in PHP4 doesn't do this by itself):
-    if (ereg('encoding="([^"]+)"', $data, $match)) {
+    if (ereg('^[^>]+encoding="([^"]+)"', $data, $match)) {
       $encoding = $match[1];
     }
 
diff --git a/modules/aggregator/aggregator.module b/modules/aggregator/aggregator.module
index be29a899511..c9833e5fd19 100644
--- a/modules/aggregator/aggregator.module
+++ b/modules/aggregator/aggregator.module
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ function import_refresh($feed) {
     }
 
     // extract the XML file's encoding (the XML parser in PHP4 doesn't do this by itself):
-    if (ereg('encoding="([^"]+)"', $data, $match)) {
+    if (ereg('^[^>]+encoding="([^"]+)"', $data, $match)) {
       $encoding = $match[1];
     }
 
diff --git a/modules/import.module b/modules/import.module
index be29a899511..c9833e5fd19 100644
--- a/modules/import.module
+++ b/modules/import.module
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ function import_refresh($feed) {
     }
 
     // extract the XML file's encoding (the XML parser in PHP4 doesn't do this by itself):
-    if (ereg('encoding="([^"]+)"', $data, $match)) {
+    if (ereg('^[^>]+encoding="([^"]+)"', $data, $match)) {
       $encoding = $match[1];
     }