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