diff --git a/deluge/common.py b/deluge/common.py
index dd0a86e02..c188bbb5e 100644
--- a/deluge/common.py
+++ b/deluge/common.py
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ if not hasattr(json, "dumps"):
 import pkg_resources
 import gettext
 import locale
+import sys
 
 from deluge.error import *
 
@@ -751,3 +752,39 @@ def setup_translations(setup_pygtk=False):
         log.exception(e)
         import __builtin__
         __builtin__.__dict__["_"] = lambda x: x
+
+def unicode_argv():
+    """ Gets sys.argv as list of unicode objects on any platform."""
+    if windows_check():
+        # Versions 2.x of Python don't support Unicode in sys.argv on
+        # Windows, with the underlying Windows API instead replacing multi-byte
+        # characters with '?'.
+        from ctypes import POINTER, byref, cdll, c_int, windll
+        from ctypes.wintypes import LPCWSTR, LPWSTR
+
+        GetCommandLineW = cdll.kernel32.GetCommandLineW
+        GetCommandLineW.argtypes = []
+        GetCommandLineW.restype = LPCWSTR
+
+        CommandLineToArgvW = windll.shell32.CommandLineToArgvW
+        CommandLineToArgvW.argtypes = [LPCWSTR, POINTER(c_int)]
+        CommandLineToArgvW.restype = POINTER(LPWSTR)
+
+        cmd = GetCommandLineW()
+        argc = c_int(0)
+        argv = CommandLineToArgvW(cmd, byref(argc))
+        if argc.value > 0:
+            # Remove Python executable and commands if present
+            start = argc.value - len(sys.argv)
+            return [argv[i] for i in
+                    xrange(start, argc.value)]
+    else:
+        # On other platforms, we have to find the likely encoding of the args and decode
+        # First check if sys.stdout or stdin have encoding set
+        encoding = getattr(sys.stdout, "encoding") or getattr(sys.stdin, "encoding")
+        # If that fails, check what the locale is set to
+        encoding = encoding or locale.getpreferredencoding()
+        # As a last resort, just default to utf-8
+        encoding = encoding or "utf-8"
+
+        return [arg.decode(encoding) for arg in sys.argv]
diff --git a/deluge/main.py b/deluge/main.py
index a966356de..422b661fe 100644
--- a/deluge/main.py
+++ b/deluge/main.py
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ def start_ui():
         help="Rotate logfiles.", action="store_true", default=False)
 
     # Get the options and args from the OptionParser
-    (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
+    (options, args) = parser.parse_args(deluge.common.unicode_argv()[1:])
 
     if options.quiet:
         options.loglevel = "none"
diff --git a/deluge/ui/ui.py b/deluge/ui/ui.py
index c10a2c323..46a597a5f 100644
--- a/deluge/ui/ui.py
+++ b/deluge/ui/ui.py
@@ -64,35 +64,6 @@ if 'dev' not in deluge.common.get_version():
     import warnings
     warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', category=DeprecationWarning, module='twisted')
 
-def win32_unicode_argv():
-    """Uses shell32.GetCommandLineArgvW to get sys.argv as a list of Unicode
-    strings.
-
-    Versions 2.x of Python don't support Unicode in sys.argv on
-    Windows, with the underlying Windows API instead replacing multi-byte
-    characters with '?'.
-    """
-
-    from ctypes import POINTER, byref, cdll, c_int, windll
-    from ctypes.wintypes import LPCWSTR, LPWSTR
-
-    GetCommandLineW = cdll.kernel32.GetCommandLineW
-    GetCommandLineW.argtypes = []
-    GetCommandLineW.restype = LPCWSTR
-
-    CommandLineToArgvW = windll.shell32.CommandLineToArgvW
-    CommandLineToArgvW.argtypes = [LPCWSTR, POINTER(c_int)]
-    CommandLineToArgvW.restype = POINTER(LPWSTR)
-
-    cmd = GetCommandLineW()
-    argc = c_int(0)
-    argv = CommandLineToArgvW(cmd, byref(argc))
-    if argc.value > 0:
-        # Remove Python executable and commands if present
-        start = argc.value - len(sys.argv)
-        return [argv[i] for i in
-                xrange(start, argc.value)]
-
 class _UI(object):
 
     def __init__(self, name="gtk"):
@@ -137,10 +108,7 @@ class _UI(object):
 
     def start(self):
         # Make sure all arguments are unicode
-        if deluge.common.windows_check():
-            argv = win32_unicode_argv()[1:]
-        else:
-            argv = [arg.decode(sys.stdin.encoding) for arg in sys.argv[1:]]
+        argv = deluge.common.unicode_argv()[1:]
         (self.__options, self.__args) = self.__parser.parse_args(argv)
 
         if self.__options.quiet: