diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index b4f8d019..204efb84 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -75,6 +75,12 @@ v0.19.5 (UNRELEASED)
 
 Bug fix release.
 
+- config: Support UTF-8 in default config. If an extension with non-ASCII
+  characters in its default config was installed, and Mopidy didn't already
+  have a config file, Mopidy would crashed when trying to create the initial
+  config file based on the default config of all available extensions.
+  (Fixes: :discuss:`428`)
+
 - Models: Hide empty collections from :func:`repr()` representations.
 
 - Models: Field values are no longer stored on the model instance when the
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 0715f326..c300aa62 100644
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ extlinks = {
     'commit': ('https://github.com/mopidy/mopidy/commit/%s', 'commit '),
     'mpris': (
         'https://github.com/mopidy/mopidy-mpris/issues/%s', 'mopidy-mpris#'),
+    'discuss': ('https://discuss.mopidy.com/t/%s', 'discuss.mopidy.com/t/'),
 }
 
 
diff --git a/mopidy/config/__init__.py b/mopidy/config/__init__.py
index 6edca51c..db451cef 100644
--- a/mopidy/config/__init__.py
+++ b/mopidy/config/__init__.py
@@ -98,8 +98,12 @@ def format_initial(extensions):
     versions = ['Mopidy %s' % versioning.get_version()]
     for extension in sorted(extensions, key=lambda ext: ext.dist_name):
         versions.append('%s %s' % (extension.dist_name, extension.version))
-    description = _INITIAL_HELP.strip() % {'versions': '\n#   '.join(versions)}
-    return description + '\n\n' + _format(config, {}, schemas, False, True)
+
+    header = _INITIAL_HELP.strip() % {'versions': '\n#   '.join(versions)}
+    formatted_config = _format(
+        config=config, comments={}, schemas=schemas,
+        display=False, disable=True).decode('utf-8')
+    return header + '\n\n' + formatted_config
 
 
 def _load(files, defaults, overrides):
diff --git a/mopidy/utils/path.py b/mopidy/utils/path.py
index 4c546ec3..c72d3b18 100644
--- a/mopidy/utils/path.py
+++ b/mopidy/utils/path.py
@@ -46,12 +46,14 @@ def get_or_create_file(file_path, mkdir=True, content=None):
     if not isinstance(file_path, bytes):
         raise ValueError('Path is not a bytestring.')
     file_path = expand_path(file_path)
+    if isinstance(content, compat.text_type):
+        content = content.encode('utf-8')
     if mkdir:
         get_or_create_dir(os.path.dirname(file_path))
     if not os.path.isfile(file_path):
         logger.info('Creating file %s', file_path)
-        with open(file_path, 'w') as fh:
-            if content:
+        with open(file_path, 'wb') as fh:
+            if content is not None:
                 fh.write(content)
     return file_path
 
diff --git a/tests/utils/test_path.py b/tests/utils/test_path.py
index 4467e07e..36d1f7db 100644
--- a/tests/utils/test_path.py
+++ b/tests/utils/test_path.py
@@ -107,12 +107,12 @@ class GetOrCreateFileTest(unittest.TestCase):
         with self.assertRaises(IOError):
             path.get_or_create_file(conflicting_dir)
 
-    def test_create_dir_with_unicode(self):
+    def test_create_dir_with_unicode_filename_throws_value_error(self):
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
             file_path = compat.text_type(os.path.join(self.parent, b'test'))
             path.get_or_create_file(file_path)
 
-    def test_create_file_with_none(self):
+    def test_create_file_with_none_filename_throws_value_error(self):
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
             path.get_or_create_file(None)
 
@@ -121,12 +121,18 @@ class GetOrCreateFileTest(unittest.TestCase):
         with self.assertRaises(IOError):
             path.get_or_create_file(file_path, mkdir=False)
 
-    def test_create_dir_with_default_content(self):
+    def test_create_dir_with_bytes_content(self):
         file_path = os.path.join(self.parent, b'test')
         created = path.get_or_create_file(file_path, content=b'foobar')
         with open(created) as fh:
             self.assertEqual(fh.read(), b'foobar')
 
+    def test_create_dir_with_unicode_content(self):
+        file_path = os.path.join(self.parent, b'test')
+        created = path.get_or_create_file(file_path, content='foobaræøå')
+        with open(created) as fh:
+            self.assertEqual(fh.read(), b'foobaræøå')
+
 
 class PathToFileURITest(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_simple_path(self):