diff --git a/src/core/symbology/qgssymbollayerutils.cpp b/src/core/symbology/qgssymbollayerutils.cpp
index 91dee5189e5f..3c18bdd3aac1 100644
--- a/src/core/symbology/qgssymbollayerutils.cpp
+++ b/src/core/symbology/qgssymbollayerutils.cpp
@@ -3826,6 +3826,10 @@ bool QgsSymbolLayerUtils::saveColorsToGpl( QFile &file, const QString &paletteNa
   }
 
   QTextStream stream( &file );
+#if QT_VERSION < QT_VERSION_CHECK(6, 0, 0)
+  stream.setCodec( "UTF-8" );
+#endif
+
   stream << "GIMP Palette" << Qt::endl;
   if ( paletteName.isEmpty() )
   {
@@ -3864,6 +3868,9 @@ QgsNamedColorList QgsSymbolLayerUtils::importColorsFromGpl( QFile &file, bool &o
   }
 
   QTextStream in( &file );
+#if QT_VERSION < QT_VERSION_CHECK(6, 0, 0)
+  in.setCodec( "UTF-8" );
+#endif
 
   QString line = in.readLine();
   if ( !line.startsWith( QLatin1String( "GIMP Palette" ) ) )