diff --git a/django/core/validators.py b/django/core/validators.py
index 233c0886ac..d6c4b28743 100644
--- a/django/core/validators.py
+++ b/django/core/validators.py
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ class URLValidator(RegexValidator):
                 "Connection": "close",
                 "User-Agent": self.user_agent,
             }
+            url = url.encode('utf-8')
             broken_error = ValidationError(
                 _(u'This URL appears to be a broken link.'), code='invalid_link')
             try:
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests/fields.py b/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests/fields.py
index 26b1c70825..3f7bc07f60 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests/fields.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests/fields.py
@@ -571,6 +571,8 @@ class FieldsTests(TestCase):
             f.clean('http://google.com/we-love-microsoft.html') # good domain, bad page
         except ValidationError, e:
             self.assertEqual("[u'This URL appears to be a broken link.']", str(e))
+        # UTF-8 char in path
+        self.assertEqual(u'http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/T\xfcr', f.clean(u'http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/T\xfcr'))
 
     def test_urlfield_4(self):
         f = URLField(verify_exists=True, required=False)