diff --git a/main.cpp b/main.cpp
index 431c94b52..bb8a5748f 100644
--- a/main.cpp
+++ b/main.cpp
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) void* __stdcall GetStdHandle(unsigned long nStdHandle);
 extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) int __stdcall GetConsoleMode(void* hConsoleHandle, unsigned long* lpMode);
 extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) int __stdcall SetConsoleMode(void* hConsoleHandle, unsigned long dwMode);
+extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) int __stdcall SetConsoleCP(unsigned int wCodePageID);
+extern "C" __declspec(dllimport) int __stdcall SetConsoleOutputCP(unsigned int wCodePageID);
 #endif
 
 #define ANSI_COLOR_RED     "\x1b[31m"
@@ -154,6 +156,32 @@ void sigint_handler(int signo) {
 }
 #endif
 
+#if defined (_WIN32)
+void win32_console_init(void) {
+    unsigned long dwMode = 0;
+    void* hConOut = GetStdHandle((unsigned long)-11); // STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE (-11)
+    if (!hConOut || hConOut == (void*)-1 || !GetConsoleMode(hConOut, &dwMode)) {
+        hConOut = GetStdHandle((unsigned long)-12); // STD_ERROR_HANDLE (-12)
+        if (hConOut && (hConOut == (void*)-1 || !GetConsoleMode(hConOut, &dwMode))) {
+            hConOut = 0;
+        }
+    }
+    if (hConOut) {
+        // Enable ANSI colors on Windows 10+
+        if (con_use_color && !(dwMode & 0x4)) {
+            SetConsoleMode(hConOut, dwMode | 0x4); // ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING (0x4)
+        }
+        // Set console output codepage to UTF8
+        SetConsoleOutputCP(65001); // CP_UTF8
+    }
+    void* hConIn = GetStdHandle((unsigned long)-10); // STD_INPUT_HANDLE (-11)
+    if (hConIn && hConIn != (void*)-1 && GetConsoleMode(hConIn, &dwMode)) {
+        // Set console input codepage to UTF8
+        SetConsoleCP(65001); // CP_UTF8
+    }
+}
+#endif
+
 int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
     // has to be called once at the start of the program to init ggml stuff
     ggml_time_init();
@@ -165,6 +193,14 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         return 1;
     }
 
+    // save choice to use color for later
+    // (note for later: this is a slightly awkward choice)
+    con_use_color = params.use_color;
+
+#if defined (_WIN32)
+    win32_console_init();
+#endif
+
     if (params.n_ctx > 2048) {
         fprintf(stderr, "%s: warning: model does not support context sizes greater than 2048 tokens (%d specified);"
                 "expect poor results\n", __func__, params.n_ctx);
@@ -181,10 +217,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
         params.prompt = gpt_random_prompt(rng);
     }
 
-    // save choice to use color for later
-    // (note for later: this is a slightly awkward choice)
-    con_use_color = params.use_color;
-
 //    params.prompt = R"(// this function checks if the number n is prime
 //bool is_prime(int n) {)";
 
@@ -308,16 +340,6 @@ int main(int argc, char ** argv) {
 
     int remaining_tokens = params.n_predict;
 
-#if defined (_WIN32)
-  if (params.use_color) {
-        // Enable ANSI colors on Windows 10+
-        unsigned long dwMode = 0;
-        void* hConOut = GetStdHandle((unsigned long)-11); // STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE (-11)
-        if (hConOut && hConOut != (void*)-1 && GetConsoleMode(hConOut, &dwMode) && !(dwMode & 0x4)) {
-            SetConsoleMode(hConOut, dwMode | 0x4); // ENABLE_VIRTUAL_TERMINAL_PROCESSING (0x4)
-        }
-    }
-#endif
     // the first thing we will do is to output the prompt, so set color accordingly
     set_console_state(CONSOLE_STATE_PROMPT);