diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index cc271f5e2cd..61eb24f1c53 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ v 6.9.0
   - Stop refreshing comments when the tab is hidden
   - Improve issue and merge request mobile UI (Drew Blessing)
   - Document how to convert a backup to PostgreSQL
+  - Fix locale bug in backup manager
 
 v 6.8.0
   - Ability to at mention users that are participating in issue and merge req. discussion
diff --git a/lib/backup/manager.rb b/lib/backup/manager.rb
index 05814fc78f6..28e323fe30d 100644
--- a/lib/backup/manager.rb
+++ b/lib/backup/manager.rb
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ module Backup
 
     def tar_version
       tar_version, _ = Gitlab::Popen.popen(%W(tar --version))
-      tar_version.split("\n").first
+      tar_version.force_encoding('locale').split("\n").first
     end
   end
 end