diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 478cdec..3dc860e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 # security leaks?;
 .env
 mydata
+confdump.venv
 
 # Byte-compiled / optimized / DLL files
 __pycache__/
diff --git a/confdump.py b/confdump.py
index 491ce9e..a3fb998 100644
--- a/confdump.py
+++ b/confdump.py
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ def main() -> int:
             print("input directory does not exist")
             return 1
 
-        connection = mysql.connect(host=args.host, port=args.port, user=args.user, password=args.password, db=args.db)
+        connection = mysql.connect(host=args.host, port=args.port, user=args.user, password=args.password, db=args.db, charset='utf8', use_unicode=True)
         connection.autocommit(True)
         cursor = connection.cursor()
         cursor.execute("SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0;")