diff --git a/lisp/ob-ditaa.el b/lisp/ob-ditaa.el
index 20b5c42..dc17a4d 100644
--- a/lisp/ob-ditaa.el
+++ b/lisp/ob-ditaa.el
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ This function is called by `org-babel-execute-src-block'."
 		    (cdr (assoc :file params))))
 	 (cmdline (cdr (assoc :cmdline params)))
 	 (in-file (org-babel-temp-file "ditaa-"))
-	 (cmd (concat "java -jar "
+	 (cmd (concat "java -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -jar "
 		      (shell-quote-argument
 		       (expand-file-name org-ditaa-jar-path))
 		      " " cmdline