diff --git a/src/area_data.cpp b/src/area_data.cpp
index 1e5f224..dfedd32 100644
--- a/src/area_data.cpp
+++ b/src/area_data.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ AreaData::AreaData(QString p_name, int p_index) :
     name_split.removeFirst();
     name = name_split.join(":");
     QSettings areas_ini("config/areas.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
+    areas_ini.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
     areas_ini.beginGroup(p_name);
     background = areas_ini.value("background", "gs4").toString();
     is_protected = areas_ini.value("protected_area", "false").toBool();
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ AreaData::AreaData(QString p_name, int p_index) :
     showname_allowed = areas_ini.value("shownames_allowed", "true").toBool();
     areas_ini.endGroup();
     QSettings config_ini("config/config.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
+    config_ini.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
     config_ini.beginGroup("Options");
     int log_size = config_ini.value("logbuffer", 50).toInt();
     log_type = config_ini.value("logger","modcall").toString();
diff --git a/src/config_manager.cpp b/src/config_manager.cpp
index 048bd4d..2fb2186 100644
--- a/src/config_manager.cpp
+++ b/src/config_manager.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 bool ConfigManager::initConfig()
 {
     QSettings config("config/config.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
+    config.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
     QFileInfo config_dir_info("config/");
     if (!config_dir_info.exists() || !config_dir_info.isDir()) {
         qCritical() << "Config directory doesn't exist!";
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ bool ConfigManager::initConfig()
     }
     else {
         QSettings areas_ini("config/areas.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
+        areas_ini.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
         if (areas_ini.childGroups().length() < 1) {
             qCritical() << "areas.ini is invalid!";
             return false;
@@ -105,6 +107,7 @@ bool ConfigManager::initConfig()
 bool ConfigManager::updateConfig(int current_version)
 {
     QSettings config("config/config.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
+    config.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
     if (current_version > CONFIG_VERSION) {
         // Config version is newer than the latest version, and the config is
         // invalid This could also mean the server is out of date, and the user
@@ -137,6 +140,7 @@ bool ConfigManager::updateConfig(int current_version)
 bool ConfigManager::loadServerSettings(server_settings* settings)
 {
     QSettings config("config/config.ini", QSettings::IniFormat);
+    config.setIniCodec("UTF-8");
     bool port_conversion_success;
     bool ws_port_conversion_success;
     bool local_port_conversion_success;