diff --git a/readability/encoding.py b/readability/encoding.py
index 37cc815..406550f 100644
--- a/readability/encoding.py
+++ b/readability/encoding.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import re
-import chardet
+try:
+    import cchardet
+except ImportError:
+    import chardet
 import sys
 
 
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 63465c5..0720ae7 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -16,12 +16,17 @@ if sys.platform == 'darwin':
         print("Using lxml<2.4")
         lxml_requirement = "lxml<2.4"
 
+speed_deps = [
+     "cchardet",
+]
+
 test_deps = [
     # Test timeouts
      "timeout_decorator",
 ]
 
 extras = {
+    'speed': speed_deps,
     'test': test_deps,
 }