diff --git a/terminatorlib/config.py b/terminatorlib/config.py
index 1e0092e9..fbfcb84e 100644
--- a/terminatorlib/config.py
+++ b/terminatorlib/config.py
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ class ConfigBase(Borg):
     def save(self):
         """Save the config to a file"""
         dbg('ConfigBase::save: saving config')
-        parser = ConfigObj()
+        parser = ConfigObj(encoding='utf-8')
         parser.indent_type = '  '
 
         for section_name in ['global_config', 'keybindings']: