diff --git a/Source/Core/DolphinWX/Main.cpp b/Source/Core/DolphinWX/Main.cpp
index fd87aaea8e..2d79c61f1c 100644
--- a/Source/Core/DolphinWX/Main.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/DolphinWX/Main.cpp
@@ -165,7 +165,14 @@ bool DolphinApp::OnInit()
 void DolphinApp::ParseCommandLine()
 {
   auto parser = CommandLineParse::CreateParser(CommandLineParse::ParserOptions::IncludeGUIOptions);
-  optparse::Values& options = CommandLineParse::ParseArguments(parser.get(), argc, argv);
+
+  // Manually convert each argument to a UTF-8 std::string, because the implicit
+  // conversion of wxCmdLineArgsArray to char** calls ToAscii (which is undesired).
+  std::vector<std::string> utf8_argv;
+  for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i)
+    utf8_argv.emplace_back(argv[i].utf8_str());
+  optparse::Values& options = CommandLineParse::ParseArguments(parser.get(), utf8_argv);
+
   std::vector<std::string> args = parser->args();
 
   if (options.is_set("exec"))
diff --git a/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.cpp b/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.cpp
index 236cd86ba2..e8cdc6b3b6 100644
--- a/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.cpp
@@ -105,17 +105,29 @@ std::unique_ptr<optparse::OptionParser> CreateParser(ParserOptions options)
   return parser;
 }
 
-optparse::Values& ParseArguments(optparse::OptionParser* parser, int argc, char** argv)
+static void AddConfigLayer(const optparse::Values& options)
 {
-  optparse::Values& options = parser->parse_args(argc, argv);
-
   const std::list<std::string>& config_args = options.all("config");
-  if (config_args.size())
+  if (!config_args.empty())
   {
     Config::AddLayer(std::make_unique<CommandLineConfigLayerLoader>(
         config_args, static_cast<const char*>(options.get("video_backend")),
         static_cast<const char*>(options.get("audio_emulation"))));
   }
+}
+
+optparse::Values& ParseArguments(optparse::OptionParser* parser, int argc, char** argv)
+{
+  optparse::Values& options = parser->parse_args(argc, argv);
+  AddConfigLayer(options);
+  return options;
+}
+
+optparse::Values& ParseArguments(optparse::OptionParser* parser,
+                                 const std::vector<std::string>& arguments)
+{
+  optparse::Values& options = parser->parse_args(arguments);
+  AddConfigLayer(options);
   return options;
 }
 }
diff --git a/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.h b/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.h
index ffe2fc87ee..98a7da981a 100644
--- a/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.h
+++ b/Source/Core/UICommon/CommandLineParse.h
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 // Refer to the license.txt file included.
 
 #include <memory>
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
 
 namespace optparse
 {
@@ -20,4 +22,6 @@ enum class ParserOptions
 
 std::unique_ptr<optparse::OptionParser> CreateParser(ParserOptions options);
 optparse::Values& ParseArguments(optparse::OptionParser* parser, int argc, char** argv);
+optparse::Values& ParseArguments(optparse::OptionParser* parser,
+                                 const std::vector<std::string>& arguments);
 }