diff --git a/lib/Template/Filters.pm b/lib/Template/Filters.pm
index be8522d..8febd34 100644
--- a/lib/Template/Filters.pm
+++ b/lib/Template/Filters.pm
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ our $FILTERS = {
     'stderr'          => sub { print STDERR @_; return '' },
     'trim'            => sub { for ($_[0]) { s/^\s+//; s/\s+$// }; $_[0] },
     'null'            => sub { return '' },
-    'collapse'        => sub { for ($_[0]) { s/^\s+//; s/\s+$//; s/\s+/ /g };
+    'collapse'        => sub { for ($_[0]) { utf8::encode($_); s/^\s+//; s/\s+$//; s/\s+/ /g; utf8::decode($_); };
                                $_[0] },
 
     # dynamic filters