diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 6f7cbeda9e..e45b75d9a5 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ if cc.get_id() == 'msvc'
       '/wd4146', # unary minus on unsigned (beware INT_MIN)
       '/wd4244', # lossy type conversion (e.g. double -> int)
       '/wd4305', # truncating type conversion (e.g. double -> float)
+      cc.get_supported_arguments(['/utf-8']), # set the input encoding to utf-8
       language : 'c')
   # Disable SAFESEH with MSVC for plugins and libs that use external deps that
   # are built with MinGW