diff --git a/Doc/library/codecs.rst b/Doc/library/codecs.rst
--- a/Doc/library/codecs.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/codecs.rst
@@ -18,29 +18,31 @@
    pair: stackable; streams
 
 This module defines base classes for standard Python codecs (encoders and
 decoders) and provides access to the internal Python codec registry which
 manages the codec and error handling lookup process.
 
 It defines the following functions:
 
-.. function:: encode(obj, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')
+.. function:: encode(obj, [encoding[, errors]])
 
-   Encodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*.
+   Encodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*. The default
+   encoding is ``utf-8``.
 
    *Errors* may be given to set the desired error handling scheme. The
    default error handler is ``strict`` meaning that encoding errors raise
    :exc:`ValueError` (or a more codec specific subclass, such as
    :exc:`UnicodeEncodeError`). Refer to :ref:`codec-base-classes` for more
    information on codec error handling.
 
-.. function:: decode(obj, encoding='utf-8', errors='strict')
+.. function:: decode(obj, [encoding[, errors]])
 
-   Decodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*.
+   Decodes *obj* using the codec registered for *encoding*. The default
+   encoding is ``utf-8``.
 
    *Errors* may be given to set the desired error handling scheme. The
    default error handler is ``strict`` meaning that decoding errors raise
    :exc:`ValueError` (or a more codec specific subclass, such as
    :exc:`UnicodeDecodeError`). Refer to :ref:`codec-base-classes` for more
    information on codec error handling.
 
 .. function:: register(search_function)