diff --git a/pycsw/ogc/api/records.py b/pycsw/ogc/api/records.py
index e69f7c5e3..bbdfd25a3 100644
--- a/pycsw/ogc/api/records.py
+++ b/pycsw/ogc/api/records.py
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ def get_response(self, status, headers, data, template=None):
             pretty_print = str2bool(self.config['server'].get('pretty_print', False))
             content = to_json(data, pretty_print)
 
-        headers['Content-Length'] = len(content)
+        headers['Content-Length'] = len(content.encode('utf-8'))
 
         return headers, status, content
 
diff --git a/pycsw/wsgi.py b/pycsw/wsgi.py
index 293a528c6..37c2f921c 100644
--- a/pycsw/wsgi.py
+++ b/pycsw/wsgi.py
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ def application_dispatcher(env):
     csw = server.Csw(configuration_path, env)
     status, contents = csw.dispatch_wsgi()
     headers = {
-        'Content-Length': str(len(contents)),
+        'Content-Length': str(len(contents.encode("utf-8"))),
         'Content-Type': str(csw.contenttype)
     }
     if "gzip" in env.get("HTTP_ACCEPT_ENCODING", ""):