diff --git a/Lib/mimetypes.py b/Lib/mimetypes.py
index 961e47fdf5e..41af94bdd2d 100644
--- a/Lib/mimetypes.py
+++ b/Lib/mimetypes.py
@@ -249,7 +249,6 @@ class MimeTypes:
                     yield ctype
                 i += 1
 
-        default_encoding = sys.getdefaultencoding()
         with _winreg.OpenKey(_winreg.HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,
                              r'MIME\Database\Content Type') as mimedb:
             for ctype in enum_types(mimedb):