diff --git a/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Database.pm b/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Database.pm
index 18df301f3..35d2dc6fa 100644
--- a/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Database.pm
+++ b/scripts/ZoneMinder/lib/ZoneMinder/Database.pm
@@ -107,6 +107,7 @@ sub zmDbConnect {
         .$socket . $sslOptions . ($options?join(';', '', map { $_.'='.$$options{$_} } keys %{$options} ) : '')
         , $ZoneMinder::Config::Config{ZM_DB_USER}
         , $ZoneMinder::Config::Config{ZM_DB_PASS}
+        , { mysql_enable_utf8 => 1, }
         );
     };
     if ( !$dbh or $@ ) {