diff --git a/asn1tools/codecs/jer.py b/asn1tools/codecs/jer.py
index 9c51da8d..2d347c2c 100644
--- a/asn1tools/codecs/jer.py
+++ b/asn1tools/codecs/jer.py
@@ -512,9 +512,9 @@ def encode(self, data, indent=None):
             raise e
 
         if indent is None:
-            string = json.dumps(dictionary, separators=(',', ':'))
+            string = json.dumps(dictionary, ensure_ascii=False, separators=(',', ':'))
         else:
-            string = json.dumps(dictionary, indent=indent)
+            string = json.dumps(dictionary, ensure_ascii=False, indent=indent)
 
         return string.encode('utf-8')
 
diff --git a/asn1tools/codecs/xer.py b/asn1tools/codecs/xer.py
index a12e3e26..a15809d0 100644
--- a/asn1tools/codecs/xer.py
+++ b/asn1tools/codecs/xer.py
@@ -662,7 +662,7 @@ def encode(self, data, indent=None):
         if indent is not None:
             indent_xml(element, indent * " ")
 
-        return ElementTree.tostring(element)
+        return ElementTree.tostring(element, encoding='utf-8')
 
     def decode(self, data):
         element = ElementTree.fromstring(data.decode('utf-8'))
diff --git a/tests/test_xer.py b/tests/test_xer.py
index 299d15e2..ec38f5b8 100644
--- a/tests/test_xer.py
+++ b/tests/test_xer.py
@@ -328,8 +328,8 @@ def test_utf8_string(self):
         datas = [
             ('A',         u'', b'<A />'),
             ('A',      u'bar', b'<A>bar</A>'),
-            ('A', u'a\u1010c', b'<A>a&#4112;c</A>'),
-            ('A',    u'f → ∝', b'<A>f &#8594; &#8733;</A>')
+            ('A', u'a\u1010c', b'<A>a\xe1\x80\x90c</A>'),
+            ('A',    u'f → ∝', b'<A>f \xe2\x86\x92 \xe2\x88\x9d</A>'),
         ]
 
         for type_name, decoded, encoded in datas: