diff --git a/src/plugins/sqldrivers/mysql/qsql_mysql.cpp b/src/plugins/sqldrivers/mysql/qsql_mysql.cpp
index b13e10e3a5..30a0a04f44 100644
--- a/src/plugins/sqldrivers/mysql/qsql_mysql.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/sqldrivers/mysql/qsql_mysql.cpp
@@ -1414,8 +1414,13 @@ bool QMYSQLDriver::open(const QString& db,
     }
 
 #if (MYSQL_VERSION_ID >= 40113 && MYSQL_VERSION_ID < 50000) || MYSQL_VERSION_ID >= 50007
-    // force the communication to be utf8
-    mysql_set_character_set(d->mysql, "utf8");
+    if (mysql_get_client_version() >= 50503 && mysql_get_server_version(d->mysql) >= 50503) {
+        // force the communication to be utf8mb4 (only utf8mb4 supports 4-byte characters)
+        mysql_set_character_set(d->mysql, "utf8mb4");
+    } else {
+        // force the communication to be utf8
+        mysql_set_character_set(d->mysql, "utf8");
+    }
 #endif
 #ifndef QT_NO_TEXTCODEC
     d->tc = codec(d->mysql);