diff --git a/tests/unit/test_win1250.cpp b/tests/unit/test_win1250.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..156c46ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_win1250.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#include "stdafx.h"
+#include "doctest.h"
+#include "utilities/utilities.h"
+
+// the polish letters, in windows-1250 and in utf-8; written as bytes, the build reads the sources in any code page
+namespace
+{
+std::string const kWin1250{"\xA5\xC6\xCA\xA3\xD1\xD3\x8C\x8F\xAF\xB9\xE6\xEA\xB3\xF1\xF3\x9C\x9F\xBF"};
+std::string const kUtf8{"\xC4\x84\xC4\x86\xC4\x98\xC5\x81\xC5\x83\xC3\x93\xC5\x9A\xC5\xB9\xC5\xBB"
+                        "\xC4\x85\xC4\x87\xC4\x99\xC5\x82\xC5\x84\xC3\xB3\xC5\x9B\xC5\xBA\xC5\xBC"};
+} // namespace
+
+TEST_CASE("win1250: the polish letters of a scenery file read as utf-8") {
+	CHECK(win1250_to_utf8("Bia\xB3" "a Podlaska") == "Bia\xC5\x82" "a Podlaska");
+	CHECK(win1250_to_utf8(kWin1250) == kUtf8);
+	// the rest of the text stays as it is
+	CHECK(win1250_to_utf8("tor 1, km 0.178") == "tor 1, km 0.178");
+}
+
+TEST_CASE("win1250: what win1250_to_utf8 gives is valid utf-8") {
+	std::u32string decoded;
+	CHECK_FALSE(utf8_to_utf32(kWin1250, decoded));
+	REQUIRE(utf8_to_utf32(win1250_to_utf8(kWin1250), decoded));
+	CHECK(decoded.size() == kWin1250.size());
+	CHECK(decoded[12] == U'\x0142');
+}
diff --git a/utilities/utilities.cpp b/utilities/utilities.cpp
index 02608262..e84307e3 100644
--- a/utilities/utilities.cpp
+++ b/utilities/utilities.cpp
@@ -317,8 +317,11 @@ void win1250_to_ascii(std::string &Input)
 
 std::string win1250_to_utf8(const std::string &Input)
 {
-	std::unordered_map<char, std::string> const charmap{{165, "Ą"}, {198, "Ć"}, {202, "Ę"}, {163, "Ł"}, {209, "Ń"}, {211, "Ó"}, {140, "Ś"}, {143, "Ź"}, {175, "Ż"},
-	                                                    {185, "ą"}, {230, "ć"}, {234, "ę"}, {179, "ł"}, {241, "ń"}, {243, "ó"}, {156, "ś"}, {159, "ź"}, {191, "ż"}};
+	// the utf-8 sequences written as bytes: the file has a byte order mark and the build doesn't give the compiler /utf-8, so letters
+	// written as letters would end up in the program in windows-1250, the same as the input
+	static std::unordered_map<char, std::string> const charmap{{'\xA5', "\xC4\x84"}, {'\xC6', "\xC4\x86"}, {'\xCA', "\xC4\x98"}, {'\xA3', "\xC5\x81"}, {'\xD1', "\xC5\x83"}, {'\xD3', "\xC3\x93"},
+	                                                           {'\x8C', "\xC5\x9A"}, {'\x8F', "\xC5\xB9"}, {'\xAF', "\xC5\xBB"}, {'\xB9', "\xC4\x85"}, {'\xE6', "\xC4\x87"}, {'\xEA', "\xC4\x99"},
+	                                                           {'\xB3', "\xC5\x82"}, {'\xF1', "\xC5\x84"}, {'\xF3', "\xC3\xB3"}, {'\x9C', "\xC5\x9B"}, {'\x9F', "\xC5\xBA"}, {'\xBF', "\xC5\xBC"}};
 	std::string output;
 	std::unordered_map<char, std::string>::const_iterator lookup;
 	for (auto &input : Input)