diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 090463e079..5ace675364 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2004-07-19  Benjamin Otte  <otte@gnome.org>
+
+	* ext/ladspa/gstladspa.c: (gst_ladspa_base_init):
+	  make sure longname, description and author are valid UTF-8
+
 2004-07-19  Thomas Vander Stichele  <thomas at apestaart dot org>
 
 	* sys/ximage/ximagesink.c: (gst_ximagesink_change_state),
diff --git a/ext/ladspa/gstladspa.c b/ext/ladspa/gstladspa.c
index 191a7d9f49..0f1982f88c 100644
--- a/ext/ladspa/gstladspa.c
+++ b/ext/ladspa/gstladspa.c
@@ -119,9 +119,13 @@ gst_ladspa_base_init (GstLADSPAClass * klass)
 
   /* construct the element details struct */
   details = g_new0 (GstElementDetails, 1);
-  details->longname = g_strdup (desc->Name);
+  details->longname = g_locale_to_utf8 (desc->Name, -1, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+  if (!details->longname)
+    details->longname = g_strdup ("no description available");
   details->description = details->longname;
-  details->author = g_strdup (desc->Maker);
+  details->author = g_locale_to_utf8 (desc->Maker, -1, NULL, NULL, NULL);
+  if (!details->author)
+    details->author = g_strdup ("no author available");
   if ((klass->numsinkpads > 0) && (klass->numsrcpads > 0))
     details->klass = "Filter/Effect/Audio/LADSPA";
   else if ((klass->numsinkpads == 0) && (klass->numsrcpads > 0))