diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index cb59656ed..10049391e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,6 +53,14 @@ if (WIN32)
     add_compile_definitions(_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS)
 endif()
 
+# force MSVC compiler charset to utf-8
+if ("${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID}" STREQUAL "MSVC")
+    add_compile_options("$<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:C>:/source-charset:utf-8>")
+    add_compile_options("$<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:/source-charset:utf-8>")
+    add_compile_options("$<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:C>:/execution-charset:utf-8>")
+    add_compile_options("$<$<COMPILE_LANGUAGE:CXX>:/execution-charset:utf-8>")
+endif()
+
 #
 # option list
 #