diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 124b19a6..aa860070 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -98,10 +98,10 @@ $ export PYTEST_HOST=localhost
 $ export PYTEST_USER=user
 $ export PYTEST_PASSWORD=myclirocks
 $ export PYTEST_PORT=3306
-$ export PYTEST_CHARSET=utf8
+$ export PYTEST_CHARSET=utf8mb4
 ```
 
-The default values are `localhost`, `root`, no password, `3306`, and `utf8`.
+The default values are `localhost`, `root`, no password, `3306`, and `utf8mb4`.
 You only need to set the values that differ from the defaults.
 
 
diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 02f53cc7..8a7eadb9 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Features:
 * Allow customization of Pygments SQL syntax-highlighting styles.
 * Add a `\clip` special command to copy queries to the system clipboard.
 * Add a special command `\pipe_once` to pipe output to a subprocess.
-
+* Default to standards-compliant `utf8mb4` character set.
 
 Bug Fixes:
 ----------
diff --git a/mycli/main.py b/mycli/main.py
index c66d048a..2fb73373 100755
--- a/mycli/main.py
+++ b/mycli/main.py
@@ -398,7 +398,7 @@ def connect(self, database='', user='', passwd='', host='', port='',
         ssl = ssl or {}
 
         passwd = passwd if isinstance(passwd, str) else cnf['password']
-        charset = charset or cnf['default-character-set'] or 'utf8'
+        charset = charset or cnf['default-character-set'] or 'utf8mb4'
 
         # Favor whichever local_infile option is set.
         for local_infile_option in (local_infile, cnf['local-infile'],
diff --git a/test/utils.py b/test/utils.py
index 66b41940..87461c0d 100644
--- a/test/utils.py
+++ b/test/utils.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 USER = os.getenv('PYTEST_USER', 'root')
 HOST = os.getenv('PYTEST_HOST', 'localhost')
 PORT = int(os.getenv('PYTEST_PORT', 3306))
-CHARSET = os.getenv('PYTEST_CHARSET', 'utf8')
+CHARSET = os.getenv('PYTEST_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4')
 SSH_USER = os.getenv('PYTEST_SSH_USER', None)
 SSH_HOST = os.getenv('PYTEST_SSH_HOST', None)
 SSH_PORT = os.getenv('PYTEST_SSH_PORT', 22)