diff --git a/taglib/toolkit/taglib.h b/taglib/toolkit/taglib.h
index 9bc81655..0edd1f00 100755
--- a/taglib/toolkit/taglib.h
+++ b/taglib/toolkit/taglib.h
@@ -76,6 +76,18 @@
 # endif
 #endif
 
+// Detect CPU endian at compile time rather than run time if possible.
+// This is a poor list. Hope someone enrich it.
+#if (defined(_MSC_VER) && (defined(_M_IX86) || defined(_M_X64))) \
+     || (defined(__GNUC__) && (defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__))) \
+     || (defined(__clang__) && (defined(__i386__) || defined(__x86_64__)))
+# define TAGLIB_LITTLE_ENDIAN
+/*
+#elif ....
+# define TAGLIB_BIG_ENDIAN
+*/
+#endif
+
 //! A namespace for all TagLib related classes and functions
 
 /*!
diff --git a/taglib/toolkit/tstring.cpp b/taglib/toolkit/tstring.cpp
index 2eae6b04..ec3dd828 100644
--- a/taglib/toolkit/tstring.cpp
+++ b/taglib/toolkit/tstring.cpp
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
 // Determine if the compiler supports codecvt.
 
-#if (defined(_MSC_VER) && _MSC_VER >= 1600)  // VC++2010 or later 
+#if (defined(_MSC_VER) && _MSC_VER >= 1600)
 # define TAGLIB_USE_CODECVT
 #endif
 
@@ -42,16 +42,24 @@
 # include "unicode.h"
 #endif
 
+#if defined(__GNUC__)
+# include <byteswap.h>
+#endif
+
 using namespace TagLib;
 
 namespace {
 
   inline unsigned short byteSwap(unsigned short x)
   {
-#if defined(_MSC_VER) && (_MSC_VER >= 1400)  // VC++2005 or later
+#if defined(_MSC_VER) && (_MSC_VER >= 1400) 
 
     return _byteswap_ushort(x);
 
+#elif defined(__GNUC__)
+
+    return __bswap_16(x);
+
 #else
 
     return (((x) >> 8) & 0xff) | (((x) & 0xff) << 8);
@@ -64,9 +72,11 @@ namespace {
     return (c1 << 8) | c2;
   }
 
+#if !defined(TAGLIB_LITTLE_ENDIAN) && !defined(TAGLIB_BIG_ENDIAN)
+
   String::Type wcharByteOrder() 
   {
-    // Detect CPU endian.
+    // Detect CPU endian at run time.
     union {
       TagLib::ushort w;
       char c;
@@ -77,8 +87,9 @@ namespace {
     else
       return String::UTF16BE;
   }
-}
 
+#endif
+}
 
 class String::StringPrivate : public RefCounter
 {
@@ -1000,8 +1011,19 @@ void String::copyFromUTF16(const char *s, size_t length, Type t)
   }
 }
 
-String::Type String::WCharByteOrder = wcharByteOrder();
+#if defined(TAGLIB_LITTLE_ENDIAN)
 
+const String::Type String::WCharByteOrder = String::UTF16LE;
+
+#elif defined(TAGLIB_BIG_ENDIAN)
+
+const String::Type String::WCharByteOrder = String::UTF16BE;
+
+#else
+
+const String::Type String::WCharByteOrder = wcharByteOrder();
+
+#endif
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 // related functions
diff --git a/taglib/toolkit/tstring.h b/taglib/toolkit/tstring.h
index 2ebec75f..32ce6e49 100644
--- a/taglib/toolkit/tstring.h
+++ b/taglib/toolkit/tstring.h
@@ -512,9 +512,9 @@ namespace TagLib {
     /*!
      * Indicates which byte order of UTF-16 is used to store strings internally. 
      *
-     * \note Set to \e UTF16BE or \e UTF16LE at run time.
+     * \note \e String::UTF16BE or \e String::UTF16LE
      */
-    static Type WCharByteOrder;
+    static const Type WCharByteOrder;
 
     class StringPrivate;