diff --git a/api-ref/source/samples/databases-create-request.json b/api-ref/source/samples/databases-create-request.json
index 215ee99beb..ed45f1e7b8 100644
--- a/api-ref/source/samples/databases-create-request.json
+++ b/api-ref/source/samples/databases-create-request.json
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 {
     "databases": [
         {
-            "character_set": "utf8",
-            "collate": "utf8_general_ci",
+            "character_set": "utf8mb3",
+            "collate": "utf8mb3_general_ci",
             "name": "databaseA"
         },
         {
diff --git a/api-ref/source/samples/instance-create-request.json b/api-ref/source/samples/instance-create-request.json
index 7e4b3e85d4..1c15b4bab8 100644
--- a/api-ref/source/samples/instance-create-request.json
+++ b/api-ref/source/samples/instance-create-request.json
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@
     },
     "databases": [
       {
-        "character_set": "utf8",
-        "collate": "utf8_general_ci",
+        "character_set": "utf8mb3",
+        "collate": "utf8mb3_general_ci",
         "name": "sampledb"
       },
       {
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/mysql8-6a81a8498ee2c229.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/mysql8-6a81a8498ee2c229.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..07b71886b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/mysql8-6a81a8498ee2c229.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+fixes:
+  - explicitly specify utf8mb3 as character set for mysql
diff --git a/trove/common/db/mysql/data.py b/trove/common/db/mysql/data.py
index 9a3b754dc8..69f6522c0b 100644
--- a/trove/common/db/mysql/data.py
+++ b/trove/common/db/mysql/data.py
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ charset = {"big5": ["big5_chinese_ci", "big5_bin"],
                     "utf8_general_mysql500_ci"
                     ],
            "utf8mb4": ["utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci"],
+           "utf8mb3": ["utf8mb3_general_ci"],
            "ucs2": ["ucs2_general_ci",
                     "ucs2_bin",
                     "ucs2_unicode_ci",
@@ -268,6 +269,7 @@ collation = {"big5_chinese_ci": "big5",
              "armscii8_general_ci": "armscii8",
              "armscii8_bin": "armscii8",
              "utf8_general_ci": "utf8",
+             "utf8mb3_general_ci": "utf8mb3",
              "utf8_bin": "utf8",
              "utf8_unicode_ci": "utf8",
              "utf8_icelandic_ci": "utf8",
diff --git a/trove/common/db/mysql/models.py b/trove/common/db/mysql/models.py
index b9df7c58e2..23a1aa5f0a 100644
--- a/trove/common/db/mysql/models.py
+++ b/trove/common/db/mysql/models.py
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ class MySQLSchema(models.DatastoreSchema):
     """Represents a MySQL database and its properties."""
 
     # Defaults
-    __charset__ = "utf8"
-    __collation__ = "utf8_general_ci"
+    __charset__ = "utf8mb3"
+    __collation__ = "utf8mb3_general_ci"
     dbname = re.compile(r"^[A-Za-z0-9_-]+[\s\?\#\@]*[A-Za-z0-9_-]+$")
 
     # Complete list of acceptable values
diff --git a/trove/tests/api/instances.py b/trove/tests/api/instances.py
index 7f0f7887f4..ee21ce43ea 100644
--- a/trove/tests/api/instances.py
+++ b/trove/tests/api/instances.py
@@ -1093,8 +1093,8 @@ class TestInstanceMgmtInfo(object):
             'databases': [
                 {
                     'name': 'db2',
-                    'character_set': 'utf8',
-                    'collate': 'utf8_general_ci',
+                    'character_set': 'utf8mb3',
+                    'collate': 'utf8mb3_general_ci',
                 },
                 {
                     'name': 'firstdb',