diff --git a/websocket-sharp/CloseEventArgs.cs b/websocket-sharp/CloseEventArgs.cs
index c687bd52..d7929a8b 100644
--- a/websocket-sharp/CloseEventArgs.cs
+++ b/websocket-sharp/CloseEventArgs.cs
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ namespace WebSocketSharp
               : (ushort) CloseStatusCode.NoStatus;
 
       _reason = len > 2
-                ? Encoding.UTF8.GetString (_rawData.SubArray (2, len - 2))
+                ? _rawData.SubArray (2, len - 2).UTF8Decode ()
                 : String.Empty;
     }
 
diff --git a/websocket-sharp/Ext.cs b/websocket-sharp/Ext.cs
index a45fda84..07b16c79 100644
--- a/websocket-sharp/Ext.cs
+++ b/websocket-sharp/Ext.cs
@@ -838,6 +838,16 @@ namespace WebSocketSharp
                : value.Substring (start + 1, len).Replace ("\\\"", "\"");
     }
 
+    internal static string UTF8Decode (this byte[] bytes)
+    {
+      try {
+        return Encoding.UTF8.GetString (bytes);
+      }
+      catch {
+        return null;
+      }
+    }
+
     internal static void WriteBytes (this Stream stream, byte[] bytes)
     {
       using (var input = new MemoryStream (bytes))
diff --git a/websocket-sharp/MessageEventArgs.cs b/websocket-sharp/MessageEventArgs.cs
index 0ae9d48b..947a1adf 100644
--- a/websocket-sharp/MessageEventArgs.cs
+++ b/websocket-sharp/MessageEventArgs.cs
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ namespace WebSocketSharp
       get {
         if (!_dataSet) {
           _data = _opcode != Opcode.Binary
-                  ? convertToString (_rawData)
+                  ? _rawData.UTF8Decode ()
                   : BitConverter.ToString (_rawData);
 
           _dataSet = true;
@@ -123,19 +123,5 @@ namespace WebSocketSharp
     }
 
     #endregion
-
-    #region Private Methods
-
-    private static string convertToString (byte[] rawData)
-    {
-      try {
-        return Encoding.UTF8.GetString (rawData);
-      }
-      catch {
-        return null;
-      }
-    }
-
-    #endregion
   }
 }