diff --git a/keyserver/src/cron/backups.js b/keyserver/src/cron/backups.js
--- a/keyserver/src/cron/backups.js
+++ b/keyserver/src/cron/backups.js
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
       `-p${dbConfig.password}`,
       '--single-transaction',
       '--no-tablespaces',
+      '--default-character-set=utf8mb4',
       ...extraParams,
       dbConfig.database,
     ],