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