diff --git a/lisp/net/dbus.el b/lisp/net/dbus.el
index 46f85daba24..11c87e72d4e 100644
--- a/lisp/net/dbus.el
+++ b/lisp/net/dbus.el
@@ -997,17 +997,18 @@ dbus-string-to-byte-array
 STRING shall be UTF-8 coded."
   (if (zerop (length string))
       '(:array :signature "y")
-    (cons :array (mapcan (lambda (c) (list :byte c)) string))))
+    (cons :array
+          (mapcan (lambda (c) (list :byte c))
+                  (encode-coding-string string 'utf-8)))))

-(defun dbus-byte-array-to-string (byte-array &optional multibyte)
+(defun dbus-byte-array-to-string (byte-array &optional _multibyte)
   "Transform BYTE-ARRAY into UTF-8 coded string.
-BYTE-ARRAY must be a list of structure (c1 c2 ...), or a byte
-array as produced by `dbus-string-to-byte-array'.  The resulting
-string is unibyte encoded, unless MULTIBYTE is non-nil."
-  (apply
-   (if multibyte #'string #'unibyte-string)
-   (unless (equal byte-array '(:array :signature "y"))
-     (seq-filter #'characterp byte-array))))
+BYTE-ARRAY must be a unibyte list of structure (c1 c2 ...), or a byte
+array as produced by `dbus-string-to-byte-array'."
+   (if-let ((bytes (seq-filter #'characterp byte-array))
+            (string (apply #'unibyte-string bytes)))
+       (decode-coding-string string 'utf-8)
+     ""))

 (defun dbus-escape-as-identifier (string)
   "Escape an arbitrary STRING so it follows the rules for a C identifier.