diff --git a/db/migrations/2020_04_07_000000_change_mysql_database_encoding_to_utf8mb4.php b/db/migrations/2020_04_07_000000_change_mysql_database_encoding_to_utf8mb4.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..575cab30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrations/2020_04_07_000000_change_mysql_database_encoding_to_utf8mb4.php
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Engelsystem\Migrations;
+
+use Engelsystem\Database\Migration\Migration;
+use Illuminate\Database\Query\Grammars\MySqlGrammar;
+
+class ChangeMysqlDatabaseEncodingToUtf8mb4 extends Migration
+{
+    /**
+     * Run the migration
+     */
+    public function up(): void
+    {
+        $connection = $this->schema->getConnection();
+        if (!$connection->getQueryGrammar() instanceof MySqlGrammar) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        $connection->unprepared('ALTER DATABASE CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci');
+
+        foreach ($connection->getDoctrineSchemaManager()->listTableNames() as $table) {
+            $connection->unprepared(
+                'ALTER TABLE `' . $table . '` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci'
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Reverse the migration
+     */
+    public function down(): void
+    {
+        // As utf8mb4 is a superset of utf8, there is nothing to do here
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Database/DatabaseServiceProvider.php b/src/Database/DatabaseServiceProvider.php
index b5225015..715b04a4 100644
--- a/src/Database/DatabaseServiceProvider.php
+++ b/src/Database/DatabaseServiceProvider.php
@@ -24,8 +24,8 @@ class DatabaseServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
             'database'  => '',
             'username'  => '',
             'password'  => '',
-            'charset'   => 'utf8',
-            'collation' => 'utf8_unicode_ci',
+            'charset'   => 'utf8mb4',
+            'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
             'timezone'  => $now->format('P'),
             'prefix'    => '',
         ], $dbConfig));
diff --git a/tests/Unit/HasDatabase.php b/tests/Unit/HasDatabase.php
index 3fe29e4a..9729af79 100644
--- a/tests/Unit/HasDatabase.php
+++ b/tests/Unit/HasDatabase.php
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ trait HasDatabase
                     ['migration' => '2018_01_01_000005_add_angel_supporter_permissions'],
                     ['migration' => '2018_12_27_000000_fix_missing_arrival_dates'],
                     ['migration' => '2019_09_07_000000_migrate_admin_schedule_permissions'],
+                    ['migration' => '2020_04_07_000000_change_mysql_database_encoding_to_utf8mb4'],
                 ]
             );