diff --git a/Tapeti/Connection/TapetiClient.cs b/Tapeti/Connection/TapetiClient.cs
index a23c8df..07e2718 100644
--- a/Tapeti/Connection/TapetiClient.cs
+++ b/Tapeti/Connection/TapetiClient.cs
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ namespace Tapeti.Connection
                 {
                     JTokenType.Integer => pair.Value.Value<int>(),
                     JTokenType.Float => pair.Value.Value<double>(),
-                    JTokenType.String => Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(pair.Value.Value<string>() ?? string.Empty),
+                    JTokenType.String => pair.Value.Value<string>() ?? string.Empty,
                     JTokenType.Boolean => pair.Value.Value<bool>(),
                     _ => throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(nameof(arguments))
                 };