diff --git a/gitweb/gitweb.perl b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
index 66be61933..597d29f22 100755
--- a/gitweb/gitweb.perl
+++ b/gitweb/gitweb.perl
@@ -617,7 +617,7 @@ sub format_subject_html {
 
 	if (length($short) < length($long)) {
 		return $cgi->a({-href => $href, -class => "list subject",
-		                -title => $long},
+		                -title => decode("utf8", $long, Encode::FB_DEFAULT)},
 		       esc_html($short) . $extra);
 	} else {
 		return $cgi->a({-href => $href, -class => "list subject"},