diff --git a/IPython/frontend/qt/svg.py b/IPython/frontend/qt/svg.py
index 8081dca..aa2bf4b 100644
--- a/IPython/frontend/qt/svg.py
+++ b/IPython/frontend/qt/svg.py
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ def save_svg(string, parent=None):
     The name of the file to which the document was saved, or None if the save
     was cancelled.
     """
+    if isinstance(string, unicode):
+        string = string.encode('utf-8')
+
     dialog = QtGui.QFileDialog(parent, 'Save SVG Document')
     dialog.setAcceptMode(QtGui.QFileDialog.AcceptSave)
     dialog.setDefaultSuffix('svg')