diff --git a/src/eFmt.erl b/src/eFmt.erl
index f5c60e4..5ed02f8 100644
--- a/src/eFmt.erl
+++ b/src/eFmt.erl
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ writeList([], _Depth, _Width, _Encoding, _Strings) ->
 writeList(List, Depth, Width, Encoding, Strings) ->
    case Strings andalso visualList(List, Encoding) of
       true ->
-         <<"\"", (list_to_binary(List))/binary, "\"">>;
+         <<"\"", (unicode:characters_to_binary(List))/binary, "\"">>;
       _ ->
          writeList(List, Depth, Width, Encoding, Strings, 0, <<"[">>)
    end.