diff --git a/libtmux/_compat.py b/libtmux/_compat.py
index 1ba32179d..0ec847f86 100644
--- a/libtmux/_compat.py
+++ b/libtmux/_compat.py
@@ -92,3 +92,9 @@ def reraise(tp, value, tb=None):
 
 
 number_types = integer_types + (float,)
+
+def str_from_console(s):
+    try:
+        return text_type(s)
+    except UnicodeDecodeError:
+        return text_type(s, encoding='utf_8')
diff --git a/libtmux/common.py b/libtmux/common.py
index f5afbc106..98bed804c 100644
--- a/libtmux/common.py
+++ b/libtmux/common.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 from distutils.version import LooseVersion
 
 from . import exc
-from ._compat import console_to_str
+from ._compat import console_to_str, str_from_console
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -196,7 +196,7 @@ def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
 
         cmd = [tmux_bin]
         cmd += args  # add the command arguments to cmd
-        cmd = [str(c) for c in cmd]
+        cmd = [str_from_console(c) for c in cmd]
 
         self.cmd = cmd
 
diff --git a/tests/test_common.py b/tests/test_common.py
index 2b65ba6f4..123e549dc 100644
--- a/tests/test_common.py
+++ b/tests/test_common.py
@@ -163,6 +163,10 @@ def test_tmux_cmd_raises_on_not_found():
     tmux_cmd('-V')
 
 
+def test_tmux_cmd_unicode():
+    tmux_cmd('new-window', '-t', 3, '-n', 'юникод', '-F', u'Ελληνικά')
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "session_name,raises,exc_msg_regex",
     [