diff --git a/cmdline.c b/cmdline.c
index 682b5979..4a84fa1c 100644
--- a/cmdline.c
+++ b/cmdline.c
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ int cmdline_process_param(CmdlineArg *arg, CmdlineArg *nextarg,
 {
     int ret = 0;
     const char *p = cmdline_arg_to_str(arg);
+    const char *value_utf8 = cmdline_arg_to_utf8(nextarg);
     const char *value = cmdline_arg_to_str(nextarg);
 
     if (p[0] != '-') {
@@ -459,7 +460,10 @@ int cmdline_process_param(CmdlineArg *arg, CmdlineArg *nextarg,
         RETURN(2);
         UNAVAILABLE_IN(TOOLTYPE_NONNETWORK);
         SAVEABLE(0);
-        conf_set_str(conf, CONF_username, value);
+        if (value_utf8)
+            conf_set_utf8(conf, CONF_username, value_utf8);
+        else
+            conf_set_str(conf, CONF_username, value);
     }
     if (!strcmp(p, "-loghost")) {
         RETURN(2);
diff --git a/conf.h b/conf.h
index c8ad4785..ce336b99 100644
--- a/conf.h
+++ b/conf.h
@@ -444,7 +444,7 @@ CONF_OPTION(environmt,
     LOAD_CUSTOM, SAVE_CUSTOM, /* necessary for mappings */
 )
 CONF_OPTION(username,
-    VALUE_TYPE(STR),
+    VALUE_TYPE(STR_AMBI),
     DEFAULT_STR(""),
     SAVE_KEYWORD("UserName"),
 )
diff --git a/pscp.c b/pscp.c
index 7edee6ab..93e31204 100644
--- a/pscp.c
+++ b/pscp.c
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ static void do_cmd(char *host, char *user, char *cmd)
     /* Set username */
     if (user != NULL && user[0] != '\0') {
         conf_set_str(conf, CONF_username, user);
-    } else if (conf_get_str(conf, CONF_username)[0] == '\0') {
+    } else if (conf_get_str_ambi(conf, CONF_username, NULL)[0] == '\0') {
         user = get_username();
         if (!user)
             bump("Empty user name");
diff --git a/settings.c b/settings.c
index 71b45fd1..e6d23101 100644
--- a/settings.c
+++ b/settings.c
@@ -112,7 +112,9 @@ const struct BackendVtable *backend_vt_from_proto(int proto)
 
 char *get_remote_username(Conf *conf)
 {
-    char *username = conf_get_str(conf, CONF_username);
+    /* We don't worry about whether the username is stored as UTF-8,
+     * because SSH wants it as UTF-8 */
+    char *username = conf_get_str_ambi(conf, CONF_username, NULL);
     if (*username) {
         return dupstr(username);
     } else if (conf_get_bool(conf, CONF_username_from_env)) {
diff --git a/test/test_conf.c b/test/test_conf.c
index e305a2be..d71ea634 100644
--- a/test/test_conf.c
+++ b/test/test_conf.c
@@ -717,7 +717,7 @@ void test_simple(void)
     test_bool_simple(CONF_ssh_no_shell, "SshNoShell", false);
     test_str_simple(CONF_termtype, "TerminalType", "xterm");
     test_str_simple(CONF_termspeed, "TerminalSpeed", "38400,38400");
-    test_str_simple(CONF_username, "UserName", "");
+    test_str_ambi_simple(CONF_username, "UserName", "", false);
     test_bool_simple(CONF_username_from_env, "UserNameFromEnvironment", false);
     test_str_simple(CONF_localusername, "LocalUserName", "");
     test_bool_simple(CONF_rfc_environ, "RFCEnviron", false);
diff --git a/unix/plink.c b/unix/plink.c
index c316793c..0f8056e0 100644
--- a/unix/plink.c
+++ b/unix/plink.c
@@ -823,7 +823,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
      * If we have no better ideas for the remote username, use the local
      * one, as 'ssh' does.
      */
-    if (conf_get_str(conf, CONF_username)[0] == '\0') {
+    if (conf_get_str_ambi(conf, CONF_username, NULL)[0] == '\0') {
         char *user = get_username();
         if (user) {
             conf_set_str(conf, CONF_username, user);