diff --git a/django/template/engine.py b/django/template/engine.py
index 257042d497..9a0f4fc2f0 100644
--- a/django/template/engine.py
+++ b/django/template/engine.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ class Engine(object):
 
     def __init__(self, dirs=None, app_dirs=False,
                  allowed_include_roots=None, context_processors=None,
-                 loaders=None, string_if_invalid=''):
+                 loaders=None, string_if_invalid='',
+                 file_charset=None):
         if dirs is None:
             dirs = []
         if allowed_include_roots is None:
@@ -33,6 +34,8 @@ class Engine(object):
             if app_dirs:
                 raise ImproperlyConfigured(
                     "APP_DIRS must not be set when LOADERS is defined.")
+        if file_charset is None:
+            file_charset = 'utf-8'
 
         self.dirs = dirs
         self.app_dirs = app_dirs
@@ -40,6 +43,7 @@ class Engine(object):
         self.context_processors = context_processors
         self.loaders = loaders
         self.string_if_invalid = string_if_invalid
+        self.file_charset = file_charset
 
     @classmethod
     @lru_cache.lru_cache()
@@ -51,6 +55,7 @@ class Engine(object):
             context_processors=settings.TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS,
             loaders=settings.TEMPLATE_LOADERS,
             string_if_invalid=settings.TEMPLATE_STRING_IF_INVALID,
+            file_charset=settings.FILE_CHARSET,
         )
 
     @cached_property
diff --git a/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py b/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py
index 5e263804f6..00ca56c84a 100644
--- a/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py
+++ b/django/template/loaders/app_directories.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ packages.
 
 import io
 
-from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.exceptions import SuspiciousFileOperation
 from django.template.base import TemplateDoesNotExist
 from django.template.utils import get_app_template_dirs
@@ -36,7 +35,7 @@ class Loader(BaseLoader):
     def load_template_source(self, template_name, template_dirs=None):
         for filepath in self.get_template_sources(template_name, template_dirs):
             try:
-                with io.open(filepath, encoding=settings.FILE_CHARSET) as fp:
+                with io.open(filepath, encoding=self.engine.file_charset) as fp:
                     return fp.read(), filepath
             except IOError:
                 pass
diff --git a/django/template/loaders/eggs.py b/django/template/loaders/eggs.py
index 8b5c92ba62..42b43bab2d 100644
--- a/django/template/loaders/eggs.py
+++ b/django/template/loaders/eggs.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ except ImportError:
     resource_string = None
 
 from django.apps import apps
-from django.conf import settings
 from django.template.base import TemplateDoesNotExist
 from django.utils import six
 
@@ -31,6 +30,6 @@ class Loader(BaseLoader):
                 except Exception:
                     continue
                 if six.PY2:
-                    resource = resource.decode(settings.FILE_CHARSET)
+                    resource = resource.decode(self.engine.file_charset)
                 return (resource, 'egg:%s:%s' % (app_config.name, pkg_name))
         raise TemplateDoesNotExist(template_name)
diff --git a/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py b/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py
index 6646073093..44d814a951 100644
--- a/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py
+++ b/django/template/loaders/filesystem.py
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ Wrapper for loading templates from the filesystem.
 
 import io
 
-from django.conf import settings
 from django.core.exceptions import SuspiciousFileOperation
 from django.template.base import TemplateDoesNotExist
 from django.utils._os import safe_join
@@ -22,7 +21,7 @@ class Loader(BaseLoader):
         template dirs are excluded from the result set, for security reasons.
         """
         if not template_dirs:
-            template_dirs = settings.TEMPLATE_DIRS
+            template_dirs = self.engine.dirs
         for template_dir in template_dirs:
             try:
                 yield safe_join(template_dir, template_name)
@@ -35,13 +34,14 @@ class Loader(BaseLoader):
         tried = []
         for filepath in self.get_template_sources(template_name, template_dirs):
             try:
-                with io.open(filepath, encoding=settings.FILE_CHARSET) as fp:
+                with io.open(filepath, encoding=self.engine.file_charset) as fp:
                     return fp.read(), filepath
             except IOError:
                 tried.append(filepath)
         if tried:
             error_msg = "Tried %s" % tried
         else:
-            error_msg = "Your TEMPLATE_DIRS setting is empty. Change it to point to at least one template directory."
+            error_msg = ("Your template directories configuration is empty. "
+                         "Change it to point to at least one template directory.")
         raise TemplateDoesNotExist(error_msg)
     load_template_source.is_usable = True
diff --git a/django/test/signals.py b/django/test/signals.py
index 648162b8ae..2da973fcec 100644
--- a/django/test/signals.py
+++ b/django/test/signals.py
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ def reset_default_template_engine(**kwargs):
         'TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS',
         'TEMPLATE_LOADERS',
         'TEMPLATE_STRING_IF_INVALID',
+        'FILE_CHARSET',
     }:
         from django.template.engine import Engine
         Engine.get_default.cache_clear()