diff --git a/lib/LDV/Zerobin.pm b/lib/LDV/Zerobin.pm
index c2bcd4b..f4b3dfd 100644
--- a/lib/LDV/Zerobin.pm
+++ b/lib/LDV/Zerobin.pm
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ sub _content_save {
 
   unless (ref $content) {
     my $asset = Mojo::Asset::File->new;
+    utf8::encode($content);
     $asset->add_chunk($content);
     $content = $asset; # wrap plaintext to Mojo::Asset
   }
@@ -65,8 +66,10 @@ sub _content_load {
   die("paste content not found\n") unless (-f $path);
   my $asset = Mojo::Asset::File->new(path => $path);
   $asset->cleanup(0);
+  my $content = $asset->slurp;
+  utf8::decode($content);
 
-  return $asset->slurp;
+  return $content;
 }
 
 sub create {