diff --git a/app/src/main/java/se/dimovski/rencode/RencodeOutputStream.java b/app/src/main/java/se/dimovski/rencode/RencodeOutputStream.java
index 335da987..48cb0e5c 100644
--- a/app/src/main/java/se/dimovski/rencode/RencodeOutputStream.java
+++ b/app/src/main/java/se/dimovski/rencode/RencodeOutputStream.java
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ public class RencodeOutputStream extends FilterOutputStream implements DataOutpu
      * Writes a {@link String}
      */
     public void writeString(String value) throws IOException {
-        int len = value.length();
+        int len = value.getBytes().length;
         if (len < TypeCode.EMBEDDED.STR_COUNT) {
             write(TypeCode.EMBEDDED.STR_START + len);
         } else {