diff --git a/util/hb-view.cc b/util/hb-view.cc
index a78983e38..9fb6e102e 100644
--- a/util/hb-view.cc
+++ b/util/hb-view.cc
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ parse_options (int argc, char *argv[])
   }
 
   font_file = argv[1];
-  text = g_locale_to_utf8 (argv[2], -1, NULL, NULL, &error);
+  text = argv[2];
 }