diff --git a/redash/query_runner/mysql.py b/redash/query_runner/mysql.py
index 6a6fa8b189..7d3d030589 100644
--- a/redash/query_runner/mysql.py
+++ b/redash/query_runner/mysql.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def configuration_schema(cls):
                 "db": {"type": "string", "title": "Database name"},
                 "port": {"type": "number", "default": 3306},
                 "connect_timeout": {"type": "number", "default": 60, "title": "Connection Timeout"},
-                "charset": {"type": "string", "default": "utf8"},
+                "charset": {"type": "string", "default": "utf8mb4"},
                 "use_unicode": {"type": "boolean", "default": True},
                 "autocommit": {"type": "boolean", "default": False},
             },
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ def _connection(self):
             passwd=self.configuration.get("passwd", ""),
             db=self.configuration["db"],
             port=self.configuration.get("port", 3306),
-            charset=self.configuration.get("charset", "utf8"),
+            charset=self.configuration.get("charset", "utf8mb4"),
             use_unicode=self.configuration.get("use_unicode", True),
             connect_timeout=self.configuration.get("connect_timeout", 60),
             autocommit=self.configuration.get("autocommit", True),