diff --git a/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/ftp/FTPClient.java b/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/ftp/FTPClient.java
index d7ff3d697..120982967 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/ftp/FTPClient.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/ftp/FTPClient.java
@@ -1969,7 +1969,8 @@ public class FTPClient {
     // protocoll socket commands
 
     private void send(final String buf) throws IOException {
-        this.clientOutput.writeBytes(buf);
+        byte[] b = buf.getBytes("UTF-8");
+        this.clientOutput.write(b, 0, b.length);
         this.clientOutput.write('\r');
         this.clientOutput.write('\n');
         this.clientOutput.flush();