diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d7d3b2dd..0fe1099e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ This will generate a file `dist/index.html` containing the following
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta charset="utf-8">
     <title>Webpack App</title>
   </head>
   <body>
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ plugins: [
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
+    <meta charset="utf-8"/>
     <title><%= htmlWebpackPlugin.options.title %></title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/default_index.ejs b/default_index.ejs
index f9466a46..4664dafb 100644
--- a/default_index.ejs
+++ b/default_index.ejs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta charset="utf-8">
     <title><%= htmlWebpackPlugin.options.title %></title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/examples/default/dist/webpack-4/index.html b/examples/default/dist/webpack-4/index.html
index 8a7f3ef8..56ddec91 100644
--- a/examples/default/dist/webpack-4/index.html
+++ b/examples/default/dist/webpack-4/index.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta charset="utf-8">
     <title>Webpack App</title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/examples/favicon/dist/webpack-4/favicon.html b/examples/favicon/dist/webpack-4/favicon.html
index 7276322a..a2d8db3b 100644
--- a/examples/favicon/dist/webpack-4/favicon.html
+++ b/examples/favicon/dist/webpack-4/favicon.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta charset="utf-8">
     <title>HtmlWebpackPlugin example</title>
   <link rel="shortcut icon" href="favicon.ico"><link href="styles.css" rel="stylesheet"></head>
   <body>
diff --git a/examples/inline/dist/webpack-4/index.html b/examples/inline/dist/webpack-4/index.html
index 9d15ee9c..8521e834 100644
--- a/examples/inline/dist/webpack-4/index.html
+++ b/examples/inline/dist/webpack-4/index.html
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title>Jade demo</title></head><body><style>body {
+<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset="utf-8"><title>Jade demo</title></head><body><style>body {
   background: snow;
 }</style><script>/******/ (function(modules) { // webpackBootstrap
 /******/ 	// The module cache
diff --git a/examples/inline/template.jade b/examples/inline/template.jade
index 301b0915..b4337d6a 100644
--- a/examples/inline/template.jade
+++ b/examples/inline/template.jade
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 doctype html
 html
   head
-    meta(http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8")
+    meta(charset="utf-8")
     title #{htmlWebpackPlugin.options.title}
   body
     each cssFile in htmlWebpackPlugin.files.css
diff --git a/examples/template-parameters/dist/webpack-4/index.html b/examples/template-parameters/dist/webpack-4/index.html
index 5d06507e..ccf2967a 100644
--- a/examples/template-parameters/dist/webpack-4/index.html
+++ b/examples/template-parameters/dist/webpack-4/index.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta charset="utf-8">
     <title>bar</title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/examples/template-parameters/index.ejs b/examples/template-parameters/index.ejs
index 9c7cdfdf..caf0b6a2 100644
--- a/examples/template-parameters/index.ejs
+++ b/examples/template-parameters/index.ejs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta charset="utf-8">
     <title><%= foo %></title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/invalid.html b/spec/fixtures/invalid.html
index 842b2f2b..564727f0 100644
--- a/spec/fixtures/invalid.html
+++ b/spec/fixtures/invalid.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
+    <meta charset="utf-8"/>
     <title>Test</title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/legacy.html b/spec/fixtures/legacy.html
index f7473d16..3611c961 100644
--- a/spec/fixtures/legacy.html
+++ b/spec/fixtures/legacy.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
+    <meta charset="utf-8"/>
     <title>Test</title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/template.jade b/spec/fixtures/template.jade
index 5f56e942..1d303ae6 100644
--- a/spec/fixtures/template.jade
+++ b/spec/fixtures/template.jade
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 doctype html
 html
   head
-    meta(http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8")
+    meta(charset="utf-8")
     title Demo
   body
     p Some unique text
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/test.html b/spec/fixtures/test.html
index 78d04850..6edb9ed6 100644
--- a/spec/fixtures/test.html
+++ b/spec/fixtures/test.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
+    <meta charset="utf-8"/>
     <title>Test</title>
   </head>
   <body>
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/webpackconfig.html b/spec/fixtures/webpackconfig.html
index 31d8cb67..f4616a14 100644
--- a/spec/fixtures/webpackconfig.html
+++ b/spec/fixtures/webpackconfig.html
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html>
   <head>
-    <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
+    <meta charset="utf-8"/>
     <title>Test</title>
   </head>
   <body>
