diff --git a/manifests/db/mysql.pp b/manifests/db/mysql.pp
index c190912..e1a2651 100644
--- a/manifests/db/mysql.pp
+++ b/manifests/db/mysql.pp
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ class glance::db::mysql(
$user = 'glance',
$host = '127.0.0.1',
$allowed_hosts = undef,
- $charset = 'latin1',
+ $charset = 'utf8',
$cluster_id = 'localzone'
) {
diff --git a/spec/classes/glance_db_mysql_spec.rb b/spec/classes/glance_db_mysql_spec.rb
index ace9fcc..bcb87d9 100644
--- a/spec/classes/glance_db_mysql_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/classes/glance_db_mysql_spec.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ describe 'glance::db::mysql' do
it { should contain_mysql__db('glance').with(
:password => 'glancepass1',
:require => 'Class[Mysql::Config]',
- :charset => 'latin1'
+ :charset => 'utf8'
)}
end