diff --git a/lib/galaxy/datatypes/sniff.py b/lib/galaxy/datatypes/sniff.py
index 4509b095e59..560e8100fc2 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/datatypes/sniff.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/datatypes/sniff.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import zipfile
 from encodings import search_function as encodings_search_function
 
 from galaxy import util
+from galaxy.util import multi_byte
 from galaxy.datatypes.checkers import check_binary, check_html, is_gzip
 from galaxy.datatypes.binary import Binary
 
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ def stream_to_open_named_file( stream, fd, filename, source_encoding=None, sourc
             if not is_compressed:
                 # See if we have a multi-byte character file
                 chars = chunk[:100]
-                is_multi_byte = util.is_multi_byte( chars )
+                is_multi_byte = multi_byte.is_multi_byte( chars )
                 if not is_multi_byte:
                     is_binary = util.is_binary( chunk )
             data_checked = True
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py
index 400a2d9f50a..615d8035b68 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/model/__init__.py
@@ -36,7 +36,8 @@ from galaxy.datatypes.metadata import MetadataCollection
 from galaxy.model.item_attrs import UsesAnnotations
 from galaxy.util.dictifiable import Dictifiable
 from galaxy.security import get_permitted_actions
-from galaxy.util import is_multi_byte, Params, restore_text, send_mail
+from galaxy.util import Params, restore_text, send_mail
+from galaxy.util.multi_byte import is_multi_byte
 from galaxy.util import ready_name_for_url, unique_id
 from galaxy.util.bunch import Bunch
 from galaxy.util.hash_util import new_secure_hash
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
index 1d72feebf51..0835300c1ac 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
@@ -38,8 +38,6 @@ import docutils.writers.html4css1
 
 from xml.etree import ElementTree, ElementInclude
 
-import wchartype
-
 from .inflection import Inflector, English
 inflector = Inflector(English)
 
@@ -58,22 +56,6 @@ NULL_CHAR = '\000'
 BINARY_CHARS = [ NULL_CHAR ]
 
 
-def is_multi_byte( chars ):
-    for char in chars:
-        try:
-            char = unicode( char )
-        except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            # Probably binary
-            return False
-        if ( wchartype.is_asian( char ) or wchartype.is_full_width( char ) or
-                wchartype.is_kanji( char ) or wchartype.is_hiragana( char ) or
-                wchartype.is_katakana( char ) or wchartype.is_half_katakana( char ) or
-                wchartype.is_hangul( char ) or wchartype.is_full_digit( char ) or
-                wchartype.is_full_letter( char )):
-            return True
-    return False
-
-
 def is_binary( value, binary_chars=None ):
     """
     File is binary if it contains a null-byte by default (e.g. behavior of grep, etc.).
diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/multi_byte.py b/lib/galaxy/util/multi_byte.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..133828c2fa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/multi_byte.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import wchartype
+
+
+def is_multi_byte( chars ):
+    for char in chars:
+        try:
+            char = unicode( char )
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            # Probably binary
+            return False
+        if ( wchartype.is_asian( char ) or wchartype.is_full_width( char ) or
+                wchartype.is_kanji( char ) or wchartype.is_hiragana( char ) or
+                wchartype.is_katakana( char ) or wchartype.is_half_katakana( char ) or
+                wchartype.is_hangul( char ) or wchartype.is_full_digit( char ) or
+                wchartype.is_full_letter( char )):
+            return True
+    return False
diff --git a/tools/data_source/upload.py b/tools/data_source/upload.py
index 3183a3fb400..086e81a9afd 100644
--- a/tools/data_source/upload.py
+++ b/tools/data_source/upload.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from galaxy.datatypes.checkers import check_binary, check_bz2, check_gzip, check
 from galaxy.datatypes.registry import Registry
 from galaxy.datatypes.util.image_util import get_image_ext
 from galaxy.util.json import dumps, loads
+from galaxy.util import multi_byte
 
 try:
     import Image as PIL
@@ -111,7 +112,7 @@ def add_file( dataset, registry, json_file, output_path ):
     if not dataset.type == 'url':
         # Already set is_multi_byte above if type == 'url'
         try:
-            dataset.is_multi_byte = util.is_multi_byte( codecs.open( dataset.path, 'r', 'utf-8' ).read( 100 ) )
+            dataset.is_multi_byte = multi_byte.is_multi_byte( codecs.open( dataset.path, 'r', 'utf-8' ).read( 100 ) )
         except UnicodeDecodeError, e:
             dataset.is_multi_byte = False
     # Is dataset an image?