diff --git a/java/pom.xml b/java/pom.xml
index d9288ef..03b0bd9 100644
--- a/java/pom.xml
+++ b/java/pom.xml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <groupId>org.micro-manager.ndtiffstorage</groupId>
     <artifactId>NDTiffStorage</artifactId>
-    <version>2.6.3</version>
+    <version>2.6.4</version>
     <packaging>jar</packaging>
     <name>NDTiff Storage file format</name>
     <description>Java-based writer and reader used for NDTiffStorage format</description>
diff --git a/java/src/main/java/org/micromanager/ndtiffstorage/NDTiffStorage.java b/java/src/main/java/org/micromanager/ndtiffstorage/NDTiffStorage.java
index 7fb66d8..0eab3f0 100644
--- a/java/src/main/java/org/micromanager/ndtiffstorage/NDTiffStorage.java
+++ b/java/src/main/java/org/micromanager/ndtiffstorage/NDTiffStorage.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 import java.nio.Buffer;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Files;
 import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.*;
@@ -796,7 +797,7 @@ public Future putImage(Object pixels, JSONObject metadata, HashMap<String, Integ
          debugLogger_.accept("waiting for writing task queue complete");
       }
 
-      byte[] metadataBytes = metadata.toString().getBytes();
+      byte[] metadataBytes = metadata.toString().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
       String indexKey = IndexEntryData.serializeAxes(axessss);
       fullResStorage_.addToWritePendingImages(indexKey, ti,
               new EssentialImageMetadata(imageWidth, imageHeight, byteDepth_, rgb));