diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/ParadoxProcessor.scala b/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/ParadoxProcessor.scala
index b5189a17..259c965c 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/ParadoxProcessor.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/ParadoxProcessor.scala
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import com.lightbend.paradox.template.PageTemplate
 import com.lightbend.paradox.markdown._
 import com.lightbend.paradox.tree.Tree.{ Forest, Location }
 import java.io.{ File, FileOutputStream, OutputStreamWriter }
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
 import java.util
 
 import org.pegdown.ast._
@@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ class ParadoxProcessor(reader: Reader = new Reader, writer: Writer = new Writer)
   private def createMetadata(outputDirectory: File, properties: Map[String, String]): (File, String) = {
     val metadataFilename = "paradox.json"
     val target = new File(outputDirectory, metadataFilename)
-    val osWriter = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(target))
+    val osWriter = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(target), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
     osWriter.write(
       s"""{
          |  "name" : "${properties("project.name")}",
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/template/PageTemplate.scala b/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/template/PageTemplate.scala
index fe864824..5e881168 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/template/PageTemplate.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/com/lightbend/paradox/template/PageTemplate.scala
@@ -17,9 +17,12 @@
 package com.lightbend.paradox.template
 
 import java.io.{ File, OutputStreamWriter, FileOutputStream }
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets
 import java.util.{ Map => JMap }
+
 import org.stringtemplate.v4.misc.STMessage
 import org.stringtemplate.v4.{ STErrorListener, STRawGroupDir, ST, NoIndentWriter }
+
 import collection.concurrent.TrieMap
 
 /**
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ class PageTemplate(directory: File, val defaultName: String = "page", startDelim
         t.add("page", contents)
       case None => sys.error(s"StringTemplate '$name' was not found for '$target'. Create a template or set a theme that contains one.")
     }
-    val osWriter = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(target))
+    val osWriter = new OutputStreamWriter(new FileOutputStream(target), StandardCharsets.UTF_8)
     val noIndentWriter = new NoIndentWriter(osWriter)
     template.write(noIndentWriter) // does not take into account the errorListener any more...
     osWriter.close