diff --git a/src/plugins/ExportVCalendar.py b/src/plugins/ExportVCalendar.py
index 635e17d60..75d91c48a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/ExportVCalendar.py
+++ b/src/plugins/ExportVCalendar.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 import os
+import sys
 from time import localtime
 from gettext import gettext as _
 
@@ -193,7 +194,8 @@ class CalendarWriter:
                 self.flist[family_handle] = 1
 
     def writeln(self, text):
-        self.g.write('%s\n' % (text.encode('iso-8859-1')))
+        #self.g.write('%s\n' % (text.encode('iso-8859-1')))
+        self.g.write('%s\n' % (text.encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())))
 
     def export_data(self, filename):
 
diff --git a/src/plugins/ExportVCard.py b/src/plugins/ExportVCard.py
index 70edc2b29..2e7a05d3c 100644
--- a/src/plugins/ExportVCard.py
+++ b/src/plugins/ExportVCard.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 import os
+import sys
 from gettext import gettext as _
 
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -171,7 +172,8 @@ class CardWriter:
             self.plist[p] = 1
 
     def writeln(self, text):
-        self.g.write('%s\n' % (text.encode('iso-8859-1')))
+        #self.g.write('%s\n' % (text.encode('iso-8859-1')))
+        self.g.write('%s\n' % (text.encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())))
 
     def export_data(self, filename):