diff --git a/load.go b/load.go
index a0fad7f..e543d40 100644
--- a/load.go
+++ b/load.go
@@ -10,6 +10,13 @@
 	"os"
 )
 
+type Encoding uint
+
+const (
+	UTF8 Encoding = 1 << iota
+	ISO_8859_1
+)
+
 // Load reads a buffer into a Properties struct.
 func Load(buf []byte, enc Encoding) (*Properties, error) {
 	return loadBuf(buf, enc)
@@ -42,13 +49,6 @@
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-type Encoding uint
-
-const (
-	UTF8 Encoding = 1 << iota
-	ISO_8859_1
-)
-
 func loadBuf(buf []byte, enc Encoding) (*Properties, error) {
 	p, err := parse(convert(buf, enc))
 	if err != nil {