diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index f5a0e1b..0a456f3 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
-* crlf=input
\ No newline at end of file
+# Automatically normalize line endings for all text-based files
+* text=auto
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/database.sql b/database.sql
index e7d34ff..a71c2d0 100644
--- a/database.sql
+++ b/database.sql
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
+# Why you should use `utf8mb4` instead of `utf8`: http://mathiasbynens.be/notes/mysql-utf8mb4
 CREATE TABLE `redirect` (
-	`slug` varchar(14) collate utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
-	`url` varchar(620) collate utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
+	`slug` varchar(14) collate utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
+	`url` varchar(620) collate utf8mb4_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 	`date` datetime NOT NULL,
 	`hits` bigint(20) NOT NULL default '0',
 	PRIMARY KEY (`slug`)
-) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci COMMENT='Used for the URL shortener';
+) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4 COLLATE=utf8mb4_unicode_ci COMMENT='Used for the URL shortener';
 
 INSERT INTO `redirect` VALUES ('a', 'https://github.com/mathiasbynens/php-url-shortener', NOW(), 1);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/index.php b/index.php
index 7ca05f8..574b554 100644
--- a/index.php
+++ b/index.php
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 		} else {
 
 			$db = new MySQLi(MYSQL_HOST, MYSQL_USER, MYSQL_PASSWORD, MYSQL_DATABASE);
-			$db->set_charset('utf8');
+			$db->set_charset('utf8mb4');
 
 			$escapedSlug = $db->real_escape_string($slug);
 			$redirectResult = $db->query('SELECT url FROM redirect WHERE slug = "' . $escapedSlug . '"');
diff --git a/shorten.php b/shorten.php
index 524a711..fdd6460 100644
--- a/shorten.php
+++ b/shorten.php
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ function getNextShortURL($s) {
 }
 
 $db = new mysqli(MYSQL_HOST, MYSQL_USER, MYSQL_PASSWORD, MYSQL_DATABASE);
-$db->set_charset('utf8');
+$db->set_charset('utf8mb4');
 
 $url = $db->real_escape_string($url);