# Character Sets

`Zend_Mail` does not check for the correct character set of the mail parts. When instantiating `Zend_Mail`, a charset for the e-mail itself may be given. It defaults to `iso-8859-1`. The application has to make sure that all parts added to that mail object have their content encoded in the correct character set. When creating a new mail part, a different charset can be given for each part.

## Only in text format

Character sets are only applicable for message parts in text format.