diff --git a/include/wx/txtstrm.h b/include/wx/txtstrm.h
index d7948933f7..dff4466bd1 100644
--- a/include/wx/txtstrm.h
+++ b/include/wx/txtstrm.h
@@ -28,10 +28,15 @@ typedef wxTextOutputStream& (*__wxTextOutputManip)(wxTextOutputStream&);
 
 WXDLLEXPORT wxTextOutputStream &endl( wxTextOutputStream &stream );
 
+
 class WXDLLEXPORT wxTextInputStream
 {
 public:
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+    wxTextInputStream(wxInputStream& s, const wxString &sep=wxT(" \t"), wxMBConv& conv = wxConvUTF8 );
+#else
     wxTextInputStream(wxInputStream& s, const wxString &sep=wxT(" \t") );
+#endif
     ~wxTextInputStream();
 
     wxUint32 Read32();
@@ -60,13 +65,18 @@ public:
 protected:
     wxInputStream &m_input;
     wxString m_separators;
+    
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+    wxMBConv &m_conv;
+#endif
 
     bool   EatEOL(const wxChar &c);
     wxChar NextNonSeparators();
     void   SkipIfEndOfLine( wxChar c );
 };
 
-typedef enum {
+typedef enum
+{
   wxEOL_NATIVE,
   wxEOL_UNIX,
   wxEOL_MAC,
@@ -76,7 +86,11 @@ typedef enum {
 class WXDLLEXPORT wxTextOutputStream
 {
 public:
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+    wxTextOutputStream( wxOutputStream& s, wxEOL mode = wxEOL_NATIVE, wxMBConv& conv = wxConvUTF8  );
+#else
     wxTextOutputStream( wxOutputStream& s, wxEOL mode = wxEOL_NATIVE );
+#endif
     virtual ~wxTextOutputStream();
 
     void SetMode( wxEOL mode = wxEOL_NATIVE );
@@ -103,6 +117,11 @@ public:
 protected:
     wxOutputStream &m_output;
     wxEOL           m_mode;
+    
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+    wxMBConv &m_conv;
+#endif
+
 };
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/common/txtstrm.cpp b/src/common/txtstrm.cpp
index 14b8e4a626..940f02c086 100644
--- a/src/common/txtstrm.cpp
+++ b/src/common/txtstrm.cpp
@@ -38,10 +38,17 @@
 // wxTextInputStream
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+wxTextInputStream::wxTextInputStream(wxInputStream &s, const wxString &sep, wxMBConv& conv)
+  : m_input(s), m_separators(sep), m_conv(conv)
+{
+}
+#else
 wxTextInputStream::wxTextInputStream(wxInputStream &s, const wxString &sep)
   : m_input(s), m_separators(sep)
 {
 }
+#endif
 
 wxTextInputStream::~wxTextInputStream()
 {
@@ -234,12 +241,23 @@ wxString wxTextInputStream::ReadString()
 
 wxString wxTextInputStream::ReadLine()
 {
-    wxChar c;
     wxString line;
 
     while ( !m_input.Eof() )
     {
-        c = m_input.GetC();
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+        // FIXME: this is only works for single byte encodings
+        // How-to read a single char in an unkown encoding???
+        char buf[10];
+        buf[0] = m_input.GetC();
+        buf[1] = 0;
+        
+        wxChar wbuf[2];
+        m_conv.MB2WC( wbuf, buf, 2 );
+        wxChar c = wbuf[0];
+#else
+        char c = m_input.GetC();
+#endif
         
         if ( !m_input )
             break;
@@ -343,8 +361,15 @@ wxTextInputStream& wxTextInputStream::operator>>(float& f)
     return *this;
 }
 
+
+
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+wxTextOutputStream::wxTextOutputStream(wxOutputStream& s, wxEOL mode, wxMBConv& conv)
+  : m_output(s), m_conv(conv)
+#else
 wxTextOutputStream::wxTextOutputStream(wxOutputStream& s, wxEOL mode)
   : m_output(s)
+#endif
 {
     m_mode = mode;
     if (m_mode == wxEOL_NATIVE)
@@ -445,8 +470,13 @@ void wxTextOutputStream::WriteString(const wxString& string)
         out << c;
    }
 
-    // NB: we don't need to write the trailing NUL here
-    m_output.Write(out.c_str(), out.length() * sizeof(wxChar));
+    // We must not write the trailing NULL here
+#if wxUSE_UNICODE
+    wxCharBuffer buffer = m_conv.cWC2MB( out );
+    m_output.Write( (const char*) buffer, strlen( (const char*) buffer ) );
+#else
+    m_output.Write(out.c_str(), out.length() );
+#endif
 }
 
 wxTextOutputStream& wxTextOutputStream::operator<<(const wxChar *string)