file -i provide two different charsets for the same file on the same FS

I'm a bit confuse about a behavior of the file -i command. I searched a while and give up since I didn't have a sufficient knowledge regarding encoding as well as linux file command (to stay concise about my lack of knowledge...). The situation is the following one: - Considering a file sample-input.xml store behind /a/specific/path/in/the/fs. - Considering the shell current working directory as /a/specific/path. Commands: 1. First case - Command: /a/specific/path/$ file -i /a/specific/path/in/the/fs/sample-input.xml. - Output: /a/specific/path/in/the/fs/sample-input.xml: text/xml; charset=iso-8859-1 2. Second case - Command: /a/specific/path/$ file -i in/the/fs/sample-input.xml. - Output: in/the/fs/sample-input.xml: text/xml; charset=utf-8 Is somebody able to explain the difference for both charsets since the command is reading the same file?