diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 710e693b9..af21d90f0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
 ## [Unreleased][latest]
+### Fixed
+- utf8 encode JSON payload in Node
 
 ## [3.0.1] - 2021-01-20
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/src/server.ts b/src/server.ts
index 184b657e3..982137c5d 100644
--- a/src/server.ts
+++ b/src/server.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ class Honeybadger extends Client {
     getStats((stats: Record<string, unknown>) => {
       payload.server.stats = stats
 
-      const data = JSON.stringify(sanitize(payload, this.config.maxObjectDepth))
+      const data = Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(sanitize(payload, this.config.maxObjectDepth)), 'utf8')
       const options = {
         method: 'POST',
         headers: {