diff --git a/lib/DDG/Goodie/Binary.pm b/lib/DDG/Goodie/Binary.pm
index 78daeddf0..622eb561f 100644
--- a/lib/DDG/Goodie/Binary.pm
+++ b/lib/DDG/Goodie/Binary.pm
@@ -69,9 +69,11 @@ handle remainder => sub {
         } else {
             # We didn't match anything else, so just convert whatever string is left.
             $input = $_;
-            $from = "String";
+            $from = "String (UTF-8)";
             $to = "Binary";
-            $result = bin($_);
+            # change input's internal encoding into UTF-8
+            my $utf8_input = Encode::encode('utf8', $_);
+            $result = bin($utf8_input);
         }
     }
     return unless ($input);    # Didn't hit any conditions, must not be us.
diff --git a/t/Binary.t b/t/Binary.t
index 625a38cc2..116acd1b0 100644
--- a/t/Binary.t
+++ b/t/Binary.t
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 use strict;
 use warnings;
+use utf8;
 use Test::More;
 use Test::Deep;
 use DDG::Test::Goodie;
@@ -27,9 +28,9 @@ sub build_test { test_zci(build_structured_answer(@_)) }
 
 ddg_goodie_test(
     [qw( DDG::Goodie::Binary)],
-    'foo in binary'             => build_test('foo', 'String', 'Binary', '011001100110111101101111'),
+    'foo in binary'             => build_test('foo', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '011001100110111101101111'),
     '12 as binary'              => build_test('12', 'Decimal', 'Binary', '00001100'),
-    'that to binary'            => build_test('that', 'String', 'Binary', '01110100011010000110000101110100'),
+    'that to binary'            => build_test('that', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '01110100011010000110000101110100'),
     '127 to binary'             => build_test('127', 'Decimal', 'Binary', '01111111'),
     '256 to binary'             => build_test('256', 'Decimal', 'Binary', '0000000100000000'),
     '0x00 to binary'            => build_test('0x00', 'Hex', 'Binary', '00000000'),
@@ -43,11 +44,19 @@ ddg_goodie_test(
     '10 to binary'              => build_test('10', 'Decimal', 'Binary', '00001010'),
     'decimal 10 as binary'      => build_test('10', 'Decimal', 'Binary', '00001010'),
     'hex 10 into binary'        => build_test('0x10', 'Hex', 'Binary', '00010000'),
-    '0xg into binary'           => build_test('0xg', 'String', 'Binary', '001100000111100001100111'),
-    'hex 0xg as binary'         => build_test('hex 0xg', 'String', 'Binary', '01101000011001010111100000100000001100000111100001100111'),
+    '0xg into binary'           => build_test('0xg', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '001100000111100001100111'),
+    'hex 0xg as binary'         => build_test('hex 0xg', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '01101000011001010111100000100000001100000111100001100111'),
     '2336462209024 in binary'   => build_test('2336462209024', 'Decimal', 'Binary', '000000100010000000000000000000000000000000000000'),
     '300000000000000 as binary' => build_test(300000000000000, 'Decimal', 'Binary', '00000001000100001101100100110001011011101100000000000000'),
-    'Cygnus X-1 as binary'      => build_test('Cygnus X-1', 'String', 'Binary', '01000011011110010110011101101110011101010111001100100000010110000010110100110001'),
+    'Cygnus X-1 as binary'      => build_test('Cygnus X-1', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '01000011011110010110011101101110011101010111001100100000010110000010110100110001'),
+    'è in binary'               => build_test('è', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '1100001110101000'),
+    'ج in binary'               => build_test('ج', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '1101100010101100'), # Arabic Letter JEEM
+    'П in binary'               => build_test('П', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '1101000010011111'), # Cyrillic Capital Letter PE
+    '한글 in binary'             => build_test('한글', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '111011011001010110011100111010101011100010000000'), # Korean Hangul
+    '漢字 in binary'            => build_test('漢字', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '111001101011110010100010111001011010110110010111'), # Japanese Kanji
+    '造字 in binary'            => build_test('造字', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '111010011000000010100000111001011010110110010111'), # Simplified Chinese
+    '扩展 in binary'            => build_test('扩展', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '111001101000100110101001111001011011000110010101'), # Traditional Chinese
+    '🦆 in binary'              => build_test('🦆', 'String (UTF-8)', 'Binary', '11110000100111111010011010000110'), # Emoji
     'binary 10'         => undef,
     '12 binary'         => undef,
     '12 from binary'    => undef,