diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/NLSTestCase.java b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/NLSTestCase.java
index fb2b87d7434..34fe63d3d3c 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/NLSTestCase.java
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/NLSTestCase.java
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
 
 package org.eclipse.osgi.tests.util;
 
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+
 import org.eclipse.osgi.util.NLS;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
@@ -24,4 +26,37 @@ public void testEmptyMessageBug200296() {
 		NLS.bind("", Integer.valueOf(0));
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void testPropertiesLatin1() {
+		assertEquals("Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet", MessagesLatin1.key_ascii);
+		assertEquals("ÀÅÆÇÈÊËÌÍÏÐÑÒÓÖ×ØÙÚÜÝÞßàâäåæçèéëìíïðñòõö÷øùúüýþ", MessagesLatin1.key_latin1);
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testPropertiesUtf8() {
+		assertEquals("Ḽơᶉëᶆ ȋṕšᶙṁ", MessagesUtf8.key_en);
+		assertEquals("顾客很高兴", MessagesUtf8.key_ch);
+		assertEquals("고객은 매우 행복합니다", MessagesUtf8.key_ko);
+		assertEquals("Клиент очень доволен", MessagesUtf8.key_ru);
+	}
+
+	public static class MessagesLatin1 extends NLS {
+		public static String key_ascii;
+		public static String key_latin1;
+
+		static {
+			NLS.initializeMessages("org.eclipse.osgi.tests.util.nls.messages_latin1", MessagesLatin1.class);
+		}
+	}
+
+	public static class MessagesUtf8 extends NLS {
+		public static String key_en;
+		public static String key_ch;
+		public static String key_ko;
+		public static String key_ru;
+
+		static {
+			NLS.initializeMessages("org.eclipse.osgi.tests.util.nls.messages_utf8", MessagesUtf8.class);
+		}
+	}
 }
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/nls/messages_latin1.properties b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/nls/messages_latin1.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..23a13fcc60d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/nls/messages_latin1.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+key_ascii=Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
+# This is a comment
+key_latin1=�����������������������������������������������
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/nls/messages_utf8.properties b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/nls/messages_utf8.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7b714af5ca6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi.tests/src/org/eclipse/osgi/tests/util/nls/messages_utf8.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+key_en=Ḽơᶉëᶆ ȋṕšᶙṁ
+# This is a comment これはコメントです
+key_ch=顾客很高兴
+key_ko=고객은 매우 행복합니다
+key_ru=Клиент очень доволен
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
index 61296720925..37795f91ccc 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ Export-Package: org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor;x-friends:="org.eclipse.core.ru
  org.eclipse.osgi.storage.bundlefile;x-internal:=true,
  org.eclipse.osgi.storage.url.reference;x-internal:=true,
  org.eclipse.osgi.storagemanager;version="1.0",
- org.eclipse.osgi.util;version="1.2.0",
+ org.eclipse.osgi.util;version="1.3",
  org.osgi.dto;version="1.1.1",
  org.osgi.framework;version="1.10",
  org.osgi.framework.connect;version="1.0";uses:="org.osgi.framework.launch",
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ Bundle-Activator: org.eclipse.osgi.internal.framework.SystemBundleActivator
 Bundle-Description: %systemBundle
 Bundle-Copyright: %copyright
 Bundle-Vendor: %eclipse.org
-Bundle-Version: 3.22.100.qualifier
+Bundle-Version: 3.23.0.qualifier
 Bundle-Localization: systembundle
 Bundle-DocUrl: http://www.eclipse.org
 Eclipse-ExtensibleAPI: true
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/pom.xml b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/pom.xml
index dd39fc80514..3de60bde129 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/pom.xml
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/pom.xml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 </parent>
   <groupId>org.eclipse.osgi</groupId>
   <artifactId>org.eclipse.osgi</artifactId>
-  <version>3.22.100-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>3.23.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>eclipse-plugin</packaging>
   <properties>
 	  <!-- The actual TCKs are executed in the org.eclipse.osgi.tck module because of reference to other service implementations -->
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
index 268a9c23342..6286ac09b5d 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ Manifest-Version: 1.0
 Bundle-ManifestVersion: 2
 Bundle-Name: %pluginName
 Bundle-SymbolicName: org.eclipse.equinox.supplement
-Bundle-Version: 1.11.100.qualifier
+Bundle-Version: 1.12.0.qualifier
 Bundle-Vendor: %providerName
 Bundle-Localization: plugin
 Export-Package: org.eclipse.equinox.log;version="1.1",
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ Export-Package: org.eclipse.equinox.log;version="1.1",
  org.eclipse.osgi.service.runnable;version="1.1",
  org.eclipse.osgi.service.urlconversion;version="1.0",
  org.eclipse.osgi.storagemanager;version="1.0",
- org.eclipse.osgi.util;version="1.1"
+ org.eclipse.osgi.util;version="1.3"
 Bundle-RequiredExecutionEnvironment: JavaSE-1.8
 Import-Package: org.osgi.framework,
  org.osgi.framework.hooks.resolver,
diff --git a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/src/org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS.java b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/src/org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS.java
index 2895530f68b..0681a85d921 100644
--- a/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/src/org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS.java
+++ b/bundles/org.eclipse.osgi/supplement/src/org/eclipse/osgi/util/NLS.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.PropertyResourceBundle;
 import org.eclipse.osgi.framework.log.FrameworkLog;
 import org.eclipse.osgi.framework.log.FrameworkLogEntry;
 import org.eclipse.osgi.internal.util.SupplementDebug;
@@ -138,6 +139,16 @@ public static String bind(String message, Object[] bindings) {
 	 *   org/eclipse/example/nls/messages_en.properties
 	 *   org/eclipse/example/nls/messages.properties
 	 * </pre>
+	 * <p>
+	 * The properties files are read using the default encoding for resource bundles:
+	 * <ul>
+	 *   <li>In Java 8, resource files are read using ISO-8859-1 character encoding. Characters outside
+	 *   its range must be represented using Unicode escape sequences (e.g., <code>&#92;uXXXX</code>).</li>
+	 *   <li>In Java 11 and later, resource files are initially read using UTF-8 character encoding. If a
+	 *   resource cannot be successfully read in UTF-8, it will be read from the start in ISO-8859-1
+	 *   character encoding.</li>
+	 * </ul>
+	 * </p>
 	 *
 	 * @param baseName the base name of a fully qualified message properties file.
 	 * @param clazz the class where the constants will exist
@@ -347,7 +358,10 @@ static void load(final String bundleName, Class<?> clazz) {
 				continue;
 			try {
 				final MessagesProperties properties = new MessagesProperties(fields, bundleName, isAccessible);
-				properties.load(input);
+				final PropertyResourceBundle bundle = new PropertyResourceBundle(input);
+				for (String key : bundle.keySet()) {
+					properties.put(key, bundle.getString(key));
+				}
 			} catch (IOException e) {
 				log(SEVERITY_ERROR, "Error loading " + variant, e); //$NON-NLS-1$
 			} finally {