diff --git a/lib/MT/Serialize.pm b/lib/MT/Serialize.pm
index 874499bb4..cfbab4924 100644
--- a/lib/MT/Serialize.pm
+++ b/lib/MT/Serialize.pm
@@ -7,13 +7,13 @@
 package MT::Serialize;
 
 use strict;
-our $VERSION = 4;
+our $VERSION = 5;
 
 {
     my %Types = (
                   Storable => [ \&_freeze_storable,    \&_thaw_storable ],
                   JSON     => [ \&_freeze_json,        \&_thaw_json ],
-                  MT       => [ \&_freeze_mt_2,        \&_thaw_mt ],
+                  MT       => [ \&_freeze_mt_5,        \&_thaw_mt ],
                   MT2      => [ \&_freeze_mt_2,        \&_thaw_mt ],
                   MTS      => [ \&_freeze_mt_storable, \&_thaw_mt ],
                   MTJ      => [ \&_freeze_mt_json,     \&_thaw_mt ],
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ sub _freeze_mt_1 {
 }
 
 sub _macrofreeze {
+    use bytes;
     my $value   = shift;
     my $ref_cnt = 1;       # for compatibility with the existing algorithm
     my %refs;
@@ -124,8 +125,7 @@ sub _macrofreeze {
                 }
                 elsif ( $ref eq 'HASH' ) {
                     $frozen .= 'H' . pack( 'N', scalar( keys %$value ) );
-                    push( @stack, [ 'HASH' => %$value ] )
-                      if scalar keys %$value;
+                    push( @stack, [ 'HASH' => %$value ] ) if keys %$value;
                 }
                 else {
                     die "Unexpected type '$ref' in _macrofreeze\n";
@@ -176,6 +176,18 @@ sub no_utf8 {
     }
 }
 
+sub _freeze_mt_5 {
+    my $enc = MT->config('PublishCharset') || 'UTF-8';
+    no warnings 'redefine';
+    local *no_utf8 = sub {
+        for (@_) {
+            next if ref;
+            $_ = Encode::encode( $enc, $_ ) if Encode::is_utf8($_);
+        }
+    };
+    _freeze_mt_2(@_);
+}
+
 sub _thaw_mt {
     my ($frozen) = @_;
     return \{} unless $frozen && substr( $frozen, 0, 4 ) eq 'SERG';
@@ -216,11 +228,13 @@ sub _thaw_mt_1 {
 }
 
 sub _macrowave {
+    use bytes;
     @_ == 2 or die "_macrowave expects: \$frozen, \$pos\n";
     my ( $frozen, $pos ) = @_;
     my $refs = [undef];
     my $len  = length $frozen;
     my ( @stack, $value );
+    my $enc = MT->app->config('PublishCharset') || 'UTF-8';
     while ( $pos < $len ) {
         my $type = substr( $frozen, $pos, 1 );
         $pos++;
@@ -246,6 +260,8 @@ sub _macrowave {
           : $type eq 'S' ? do {    # scalarref
             my $slen = unpack 'N', substr( $frozen, $pos, 4 );
             my $col_val = substr( $frozen, $pos + 4, $slen );
+            $col_val = Encode::decode( $enc, $col_val )
+              if !( Encode::is_utf8($col_val) );
             $pos += 4 + $slen;
             push @$refs, \$col_val;
             \$col_val;
@@ -259,6 +275,8 @@ sub _macrowave {
           : $type eq '-' ? do {    # scalar value
             my $slen = unpack 'N', substr( $frozen, $pos, 4 );
             my $col_val = substr( $frozen, $pos + 4, $slen );
+            $col_val = Encode::decode( $enc, $col_val )
+              if !( Encode::is_utf8($col_val) );
             $pos += 4 + $slen;
             $col_val;
           }