# Converting a MySQL database to UTF-8 (utf8mb4)

> Convert an older MySQL database and its tables to utf8mb4, so it can store every language, symbol and emoji without question marks or broken characters.

Source: https://helpcenter.ruachost.com/cpanel/databases/converting-a-database-to-utf8mb4/

**utf8mb4** is the character set modern apps use. It stores every language and symbol, including emoji. Older databases often use **latin1** or the older **utf8** (also called `utf8mb3`), which can't store emoji and some characters. You may see:

- Question marks (`????`) in place of emoji or some characters.
- Errors such as **"Incorrect string value"** when saving content.
- WordPress warnings about the database character set.

This guide converts a database to `utf8mb4` with the `utf8mb4_unicode_ci` collation.

> **Caution:**
**Back up the database first.** In cPanel, export it with phpMyAdmin or take a backup with JetBackup. See [Restoring files, email and databases using JetBackup](https://helpcenter.ruachost.com/cpanel/files/restoring-files-email-and-databases-using-jetbackup/).

## Check the current character set

1. In cPanel, open **phpMyAdmin** and click your database on the left.
2. The **Collation** column shows each table's collation. Anything starting with `latin1_` or `utf8_` (not `utf8mb4_`) needs converting.

## Convert in phpMyAdmin

1. Click your database on the left, then the **Operations** tab.
2. Under **Collation**, choose `utf8mb4_unicode_ci`.
3. Tick **Change all tables collations** and **Change all tables columns collations**.
4. Click **Go**.

This changes the database default and converts every table and text column.

## Convert with SQL

To convert tables one at a time, click your database, open the **SQL** tab and run, for each table:

```sql
ALTER DATABASE your_database CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
ALTER TABLE your_table CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
```

To create the commands for every table at once, run this, then copy the results into the SQL tab and run them:

```sql
SELECT CONCAT('ALTER TABLE `', table_name, '` CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;')
FROM information_schema.tables
WHERE table_schema = 'your_database' AND table_type = 'BASE TABLE';
```

## After converting

- **Tell your app to use utf8mb4.** In WordPress, check `wp-config.php` has `define( 'DB_CHARSET', 'utf8mb4' );`. In PHP code, connect with `charset=utf8mb4` (PDO) or `$mysqli->set_charset('utf8mb4')`. See [Specifying the MySQL character set in PHP](https://helpcenter.ruachost.com/developers/php/specifying-the-mysql-character-set-in-php/).
- **Check your website.** Look at pages with accents, other languages and symbols.

## If text already looks wrong

If text already showed odd characters such as `é` instead of `é` **before** you converted, the data was saved with the wrong character set (double-encoded). Converting won't fix this by itself and can make it worse. Restore your backup and [contact support](https://helpcenter.ruachost.com/getting-started/guides/contact-support/), and we'll help you fix it.

## Related articles

- [Changing the MySQL collation settings in phpMyAdmin](https://helpcenter.ruachost.com/cpanel/databases/changing-the-mysql-collation-settings-in-phpmyadmin/)
- [Database limits and versions](https://helpcenter.ruachost.com/cpanel/databases/database-limits-and-versions/)