diff --git a/src/Explorer/Tabs/TabsBase.ts b/src/Explorer/Tabs/TabsBase.ts
index 2b97fed3e..2602b672d 100644
--- a/src/Explorer/Tabs/TabsBase.ts
+++ b/src/Explorer/Tabs/TabsBase.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { OpenTab } from "Contracts/ActionContracts";
 import { KeyboardActionGroup, clearKeyboardActionGroup } from "KeyboardShortcuts";
+import { substringUtf } from "Utils/StringUtils";
 import * as ko from "knockout";
 import * as Constants from "../../Common/Constants";
 import * as ThemeUtility from "../../Common/ThemeUtility";
@@ -154,13 +155,13 @@ export default class TabsBase extends WaitsForTemplateViewModel {
     const db = this.database?.id();
     if (coll) {
       if (coll.length > 8) {
-        return coll.slice(0, 5) + "…" + options.title;
+        return substringUtf(coll, 0, 5) + "…" + options.title;
       } else {
         return coll + "." + options.title;
       }
     } else if (db) {
       if (db.length > 8) {
-        return db.slice(0, 5) + "…" + options.title;
+        return substringUtf(db, 0, 5) + "…" + options.title;
       } else {
         return db + "." + options.title;
       }
diff --git a/src/Utils/StringUtils.test.ts b/src/Utils/StringUtils.test.ts
index bd626f492..408556f07 100644
--- a/src/Utils/StringUtils.test.ts
+++ b/src/Utils/StringUtils.test.ts
@@ -26,5 +26,22 @@ describe("StringUtils", () => {
       const transformedString: string | undefined = StringUtils.stripSpacesFromString("");
       expect(transformedString).toBe("");
     });
+
+    it("should return the right number of characters regardless of bytes used per character", () => {
+      // Tried to use a sample of characters across the range for each of the individual byte lengths
+      const ascii = "!,n~!,n~!,n~";
+      const twoByteCharacters = "Āā߿܀Āā߿܀Āā߿܀";
+      const threeByteCharacters = "ࠀ倀ꀀࠀ倀ꀀࠀ倀ꀀ";
+      const fourByteCharacters = "𐀀𐔀𐨀𐿶𐀀𐔀𐨀𐿶𐀀𐔀𐨀𐿶";
+      // Used a random character generator for each of the different byte-lengths of characters for the mixed tests
+      const mixedByteSizes = "Yח䙶𫶾eԚ疿𱺿]߉ꗫ𢆤*ɉ貸𪡑";
+
+      expect(StringUtils.substringUtf(ascii, 0, 5)).toBe("!,n~!");
+      expect(StringUtils.substringUtf(twoByteCharacters, 0, 5)).toBe("Āā߿܀Ā");
+      expect(StringUtils.substringUtf(threeByteCharacters, 0, 5)).toBe("ࠀ倀ꀀࠀ");
+      expect(StringUtils.substringUtf(fourByteCharacters, 0, 5)).toBe("𐀀𐔀𐨀𐿶𐀀");
+      expect(StringUtils.substringUtf(mixedByteSizes, 0, 5)).toBe("Yח䙶𫶾e");
+      expect(StringUtils.substringUtf(mixedByteSizes, 4, 4)).toBe("eԚ疿𱺿");
+    });
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/Utils/StringUtils.ts b/src/Utils/StringUtils.ts
index 02ceba5f2..3e0d68ba2 100644
--- a/src/Utils/StringUtils.ts
+++ b/src/Utils/StringUtils.ts
@@ -17,3 +17,58 @@ export function endsWith(stringToTest: string, suffix: string): boolean {
 export function startsWith(stringToTest: string, prefix: string): boolean {
   return stringToTest.indexOf(prefix) === 0;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Returns the input number of characters from a desired string but takes into account characters encoded with different byte sizes.
+ * @param text The text from which to return the subset
+ * @param startChar The starting character from @param text (zero-based)
+ * @param numChars The number of characters to return starting from @param startChar
+ * @returns The resulting slice of characters
+ */
+export const substringUtf = (text: string, startChar: number, numChars: number) => {
+  const encoded = new TextEncoder().encode(text);
+
+  let currentChar = 0;
+  let currentByte = 0;
+  let startByte = 0;
+  for (; currentChar < startChar + numChars; ) {
+    if (currentChar === startChar) {
+      startByte = currentByte;
+    }
+
+    /*
+    Unicode is utf encoded using 1, 2, 3, or 4 bytes
+    In a byte array, we know how many bytes the character is encoded based on the first byte because it
+    was developed such that the first byte's range never occurs in any other byte. Subsequent bytes are
+    always within 128 and 191. So in binary it breaks down like this:
+    1 byte:  0xxxxxxx
+    2 bytes: 110xxxxx 10xxxxxx
+    3 bytes: 1110xxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx
+    4 bytes: 11110xxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx 10xxxxxx
+    */
+    switch (true) {
+      // The originall ASCII set is between 0 (00000000) and 127 (01111111) and those only take up one byte
+      case encoded[currentByte] >= 0 && encoded[currentByte] <= 127:
+        currentByte++;
+        break;
+      // But if the first byte is within 192 (11000000) and 223 (11011111) then we know the character is two bytes:
+      case encoded[currentByte] >= 192 && encoded[currentByte] <= 223:
+        currentByte = currentByte + 2;
+        break;
+      // If the first byte is anything within 224 (11100000) and 239 (11101111) then the character is three bytes
+      case encoded[currentByte] >= 224 && encoded[currentByte] <= 239:
+        currentByte = currentByte + 3;
+        break;
+      // If the first byte is anything within 240 (11110000) and 247 (11110111) then the character is four bytes
+      case encoded[currentByte] >= 240 && encoded[currentByte] <= 247:
+        currentByte = currentByte + 4;
+        break;
+      // Anything past is an error for now
+      default:
+        throw new Error("Unrecognized character");
+    }
+    currentChar++;
+  }
+
+  return new TextDecoder().decode(encoded.slice(startByte, currentByte));
+};