diff --git a/src/android/jpeg/exif.cpp b/src/android/jpeg/exif.cpp
index 3fd5d55..bd528a7 100644
--- a/src/android/jpeg/exif.cpp
+++ b/src/android/jpeg/exif.cpp
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 #include "exif.h"
 
 #include "libcamera/internal/log.h"
+#include "libcamera/internal/utils.h"
 
 using namespace libcamera;
 
@@ -171,15 +172,19 @@ void Exif::setRational(ExifIfd ifd, ExifTag tag, ExifRational item)
 
 void Exif::setString(ExifIfd ifd, ExifTag tag, ExifFormat format, const std::string &item)
 {
-	/* Pad 1 extra byte for null-terminated string in ASCII format. */
-	size_t length = format == EXIF_FORMAT_ASCII ?
-			item.length() + 1 : item.length();
+	size_t length = item.length();
+	std::string str = item;
+	if (format == EXIF_FORMAT_ASCII) {
+		str = utils::toAscii(str);
+		/* Pad 1 extra byte to null-terminate the ASCII string. */
+		length += 1;
+	}
 
 	ExifEntry *entry = createEntry(ifd, tag, format, length, length);
 	if (!entry)
 		return;
 
-	memcpy(entry->data, item.c_str(), length);
+	memcpy(entry->data, str.c_str(), length);
 	exif_entry_unref(entry);
 }