diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/vfat.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/vfat.rst
index 760a4d83fdf9..28cacba7bb9a 100644
--- a/Documentation/filesystems/vfat.rst
+++ b/Documentation/filesystems/vfat.rst
@@ -65,19 +65,10 @@ VFAT MOUNT OPTIONS
 	in Unicode format, but Unix for the most part doesn't
 	know how to deal with Unicode.
 	By default, FAT_DEFAULT_IOCHARSET setting is used.
-
-	There is also an option of doing UTF-8 translations
-	with the utf8 option.
-
-.. note:: ``iocharset=utf8`` is not recommended. If unsure, you should consider
-	  the utf8 option instead.
+	**utf8** is supported too and recommended to use.
 
 **utf8=<bool>**
-	UTF-8 is the filesystem safe version of Unicode that
-	is used by the console. It can be enabled or disabled
-	for the filesystem with this option.
-	If 'uni_xlate' gets set, UTF-8 gets disabled.
-	By default, FAT_DEFAULT_UTF8 setting is used.
+	Alias for ``iocharset=utf8`` mount option.
 
 **uni_xlate=<bool>**
 	Translate unhandled Unicode characters to special
diff --git a/fs/fat/Kconfig b/fs/fat/Kconfig
index 238cc55f84c4..e98aaa3bb55b 100644
--- a/fs/fat/Kconfig
+++ b/fs/fat/Kconfig
@@ -93,29 +93,12 @@ config FAT_DEFAULT_IOCHARSET
 	  like FAT to use. It should probably match the character set
 	  that most of your FAT filesystems use, and can be overridden
 	  with the "iocharset" mount option for FAT filesystems.
-	  Note that "utf8" is not recommended for FAT filesystems.
-	  If unsure, you shouldn't set "utf8" here - select the next option
-	  instead if you would like to use UTF-8 encoded file names by default.
+	  "utf8" is supported too and recommended to use.
 	  See <file:Documentation/filesystems/vfat.rst> for more information.
 
 	  Enable any character sets you need in File Systems/Native Language
 	  Support.
 
-config FAT_DEFAULT_UTF8
-	bool "Enable FAT UTF-8 option by default"
-	depends on VFAT_FS
-	default n
-	help
-	  Set this if you would like to have "utf8" mount option set
-	  by default when mounting FAT filesystems.
-
-	  Even if you say Y here can always disable UTF-8 for
-	  particular mount by adding "utf8=0" to mount options.
-
-	  Say Y if you use UTF-8 encoding for file names, N otherwise.
-
-	  See <file:Documentation/filesystems/vfat.rst> for more information.
-
 config FAT_KUNIT_TEST
 	tristate "Unit Tests for FAT filesystems" if !KUNIT_ALL_TESTS
 	depends on KUNIT && FAT_FS
diff --git a/fs/fat/dir.c b/fs/fat/dir.c
index 00235b8a1823..15166b0c4a6e 100644
--- a/fs/fat/dir.c
+++ b/fs/fat/dir.c
@@ -33,11 +33,6 @@
 #define FAT_MAX_UNI_CHARS	((MSDOS_SLOTS - 1) * 13 + 1)
 #define FAT_MAX_UNI_SIZE	(FAT_MAX_UNI_CHARS * sizeof(wchar_t))
 
-static inline unsigned char fat_tolower(unsigned char c)
-{
-	return ((c >= 'A') && (c <= 'Z')) ? c+32 : c;
-}
-
 static inline loff_t fat_make_i_pos(struct super_block *sb,
 				    struct buffer_head *bh,
 				    struct msdos_dir_entry *de)
@@ -258,10 +253,12 @@ static inline int fat_name_match(struct msdos_sb_info *sbi,
 	if (a_len != b_len)
 		return 0;
 
-	if (sbi->options.name_check != 's')
-		return !nls_strnicmp(sbi->nls_io, a, b, a_len);
-	else
+	if (sbi->options.name_check == 's')
 		return !memcmp(a, b, a_len);
+	else if (sbi->options.utf8)
+		return !fat_utf8_strnicmp(a, b, a_len);
+	else
+		return !nls_strnicmp(sbi->nls_io, a, b, a_len);
 }
 
 enum { PARSE_INVALID = 1, PARSE_NOT_LONGNAME, PARSE_EOF, };
@@ -384,7 +381,7 @@ static int fat_parse_short(struct super_block *sb,
 					de->lcase & CASE_LOWER_BASE);
 		if (chl <= 1) {
 			if (!isvfat)
-				ptname[i] = nocase ? c : fat_tolower(c);
+				ptname[i] = nocase ? c : fat_ascii_to_lower(c);
 			i++;
 			if (c != ' ') {
 				name_len = i;
@@ -421,7 +418,7 @@ static int fat_parse_short(struct super_block *sb,
 		if (chl <= 1) {
 			k++;
 			if (!isvfat)
-				ptname[i] = nocase ? c : fat_tolower(c);
+				ptname[i] = nocase ? c : fat_ascii_to_lower(c);
 			i++;
 			if (c != ' ') {
 				name_len = i;
diff --git a/fs/fat/fat.h b/fs/fat/fat.h
index a415c02ede39..6b0a6041c8d7 100644
--- a/fs/fat/fat.h
+++ b/fs/fat/fat.h
@@ -311,6 +311,28 @@ static inline void fatwchar_to16(__u8 *dst, const wchar_t *src, size_t len)
 #endif
 }
 
+static inline unsigned char fat_ascii_to_lower(unsigned char c)
+{
+	return ((c >= 'A') && (c <= 'Z')) ? c+32 : c;
+}
+
+static inline int fat_utf8_strnicmp(const unsigned char *a,
+				    const unsigned char *b,
+				    int len)
+{
+	int i;
+
+	/*
+	 * FIXME: UTF-8 doesn't provide FAT semantics
+	 * Case-insensitive support is only for 7-bit ASCII characters
+	 */
+	for (i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+		if (fat_ascii_to_lower(a[i]) != fat_ascii_to_lower(b[i]))
+			return 1;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
 /* fat/cache.c */
 extern void fat_cache_inval_inode(struct inode *inode);
 extern int fat_get_cluster(struct inode *inode, int cluster,
diff --git a/fs/fat/inode.c b/fs/fat/inode.c
index d99b8549ec8f..818c9c37b419 100644
--- a/fs/fat/inode.c
+++ b/fs/fat/inode.c
@@ -956,7 +956,9 @@ static int fat_show_options(struct seq_file *m, struct dentry *root)
 		/* strip "cp" prefix from displayed option */
 		seq_printf(m, ",codepage=%s", &sbi->nls_disk->charset[2]);
 	if (isvfat) {
-		if (sbi->nls_io)
+		if (opts->utf8)
+			seq_puts(m, ",iocharset=utf8");
+		else if (sbi->nls_io)
 			seq_printf(m, ",iocharset=%s", sbi->nls_io->charset);
 
 		switch (opts->shortname) {
@@ -993,8 +995,6 @@ static int fat_show_options(struct seq_file *m, struct dentry *root)
 		if (opts->nocase)
 			seq_puts(m, ",nocase");
 	} else {
-		if (opts->utf8)
-			seq_puts(m, ",utf8");
 		if (opts->unicode_xlate)
 			seq_puts(m, ",uni_xlate");
 		if (!opts->numtail)
@@ -1156,8 +1156,6 @@ static int parse_options(struct super_block *sb, char *options, int is_vfat,
 	opts->errors = FAT_ERRORS_RO;
 	*debug = 0;
 
-	opts->utf8 = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_UTF8) && is_vfat;
-
 	if (!options)
 		goto out;
 
@@ -1318,10 +1316,14 @@ static int parse_options(struct super_block *sb, char *options, int is_vfat,
 					| VFAT_SFN_CREATE_WIN95;
 			break;
 		case Opt_utf8_no:		/* 0 or no or false */
-			opts->utf8 = 0;
+			fat_reset_iocharset(opts);
 			break;
 		case Opt_utf8_yes:		/* empty or 1 or yes or true */
-			opts->utf8 = 1;
+			fat_reset_iocharset(opts);
+			iocharset = kstrdup("utf8", GFP_KERNEL);
+			if (!iocharset)
+				return -ENOMEM;
+			opts->iocharset = iocharset;
 			break;
 		case Opt_uni_xl_no:		/* 0 or no or false */
 			opts->unicode_xlate = 0;
@@ -1359,18 +1361,11 @@ static int parse_options(struct super_block *sb, char *options, int is_vfat,
 	}
 
 out:
-	/* UTF-8 doesn't provide FAT semantics */
-	if (!strcmp(opts->iocharset, "utf8")) {
-		fat_msg(sb, KERN_WARNING, "utf8 is not a recommended IO charset"
-		       " for FAT filesystems, filesystem will be "
-		       "case sensitive!");
-	}
+	opts->utf8 = !strcmp(opts->iocharset, "utf8") && is_vfat;
 
 	/* If user doesn't specify allow_utime, it's initialized from dmask. */
 	if (opts->allow_utime == (unsigned short)-1)
 		opts->allow_utime = ~opts->fs_dmask & (S_IWGRP | S_IWOTH);
-	if (opts->unicode_xlate)
-		opts->utf8 = 0;
 	if (opts->nfs == FAT_NFS_NOSTALE_RO) {
 		sb->s_flags |= SB_RDONLY;
 		sb->s_export_op = &fat_export_ops_nostale;
@@ -1828,8 +1823,7 @@ int fat_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, void *data, int silent, int isvfat,
 		goto out_fail;
 	}
 
-	/* FIXME: utf8 is using iocharset for upper/lower conversion */
-	if (sbi->options.isvfat) {
+	if (sbi->options.isvfat && !sbi->options.utf8) {
 		sbi->nls_io = load_nls(sbi->options.iocharset);
 		if (!sbi->nls_io) {
 			fat_msg(sb, KERN_ERR, "IO charset %s not found",
diff --git a/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c b/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c
index 21620054e1c4..5c585e79d863 100644
--- a/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c
+++ b/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ static int vfat_hash(const struct dentry *dentry, struct qstr *qstr)
 static int vfat_hashi(const struct dentry *dentry, struct qstr *qstr)
 {
 	struct nls_table *t = MSDOS_SB(dentry->d_sb)->nls_io;
+	int utf8 = MSDOS_SB(dentry->d_sb)->options.utf8;
 	const unsigned char *name;
 	unsigned int len;
 	unsigned long hash;
@@ -142,8 +143,17 @@ static int vfat_hashi(const struct dentry *dentry, struct qstr *qstr)
 	len = vfat_striptail_len(qstr);
 
 	hash = init_name_hash(dentry);
-	while (len--)
-		hash = partial_name_hash(nls_tolower(t, *name++), hash);
+	if (utf8) {
+		/*
+		 * FIXME: UTF-8 doesn't provide FAT semantics
+		 * Case-insensitive support is only for 7-bit ASCII characters
+		 */
+		while (len--)
+			hash = partial_name_hash(fat_ascii_to_lower(*name++), hash);
+	} else {
+		while (len--)
+			hash = partial_name_hash(nls_tolower(t, *name++), hash);
+	}
 	qstr->hash = end_name_hash(hash);
 
 	return 0;
@@ -156,16 +166,18 @@ static int vfat_cmpi(const struct dentry *dentry,
 		unsigned int len, const char *str, const struct qstr *name)
 {
 	struct nls_table *t = MSDOS_SB(dentry->d_sb)->nls_io;
+	int utf8 = MSDOS_SB(dentry->d_sb)->options.utf8;
 	unsigned int alen, blen;
 
 	/* A filename cannot end in '.' or we treat it like it has none */
 	alen = vfat_striptail_len(name);
 	blen = __vfat_striptail_len(len, str);
-	if (alen == blen) {
-		if (nls_strnicmp(t, name->name, str, alen) == 0)
-			return 0;
-	}
-	return 1;
+	if (alen != blen)
+		return 1;
+	else if (utf8)
+		return fat_utf8_strnicmp(name->name, str, alen);
+	else
+		return nls_strnicmp(t, name->name, str, alen);
 }
 
 /*
