diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm.test/BUCK b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm.test/BUCK
index dae9cd924..a3859c9b4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm.test/BUCK
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.pgm.test/BUCK
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ for t in TESTS:
       '//lib:tukaani-xz',
     ],
     source_under_test = ['//org.eclipse.jgit.pgm:pgm'],
+    vm_args = ['-Xmx256m', '-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8'],
   )
 
 java_library(
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/BUCK b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/BUCK
index 9a9d9efd0..3df3336b4 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/BUCK
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/BUCK
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ for src in TESTS:
       '//lib:slf4j-simple',
     ] + DEPS.get(src, []),
     source_under_test = ['//org.eclipse.jgit:jgit'],
+    vm_args = ['-Xmx256m', '-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8'],
   )
 
 java_library(