diff --git a/pkg/registry/chart.go b/pkg/registry/chart.go
index b00fc616d..0a49d30e5 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/chart.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/chart.go
@@ -18,8 +18,11 @@ package registry // import "helm.sh/helm/v4/pkg/registry"
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
+	"unicode/utf16"
+	"unicode/utf8"
 
 	chart "helm.sh/helm/v4/pkg/chart/v2"
 	"helm.sh/helm/v4/pkg/chart/v2/loader"
@@ -59,7 +62,7 @@ annotations:
 		}
 
 		// Add chart annotation
-		ociAnnotations[chartAnnotationKey] = chartAnnotationValue
+		ociAnnotations[chartAnnotationKey] = escapeNonASCII(chartAnnotationValue)
 	}
 
 	return ociAnnotations
@@ -117,8 +120,44 @@ func addToMap(inputMap map[string]string, newKey string, newValue string) map[st
 
 	// Add item to map if its
 	if len(strings.TrimSpace(newValue)) > 0 {
-		inputMap[newKey] = newValue
+		inputMap[newKey] = escapeNonASCII(newValue)
 	}
 
 	return inputMap
 }
+
+func escapeNonASCII(value string) string {
+	if value == "" {
+		return value
+	}
+
+	var escaped strings.Builder
+	escaped.Grow(len(value))
+
+	for _, r := range value {
+		if r < utf8.RuneSelf {
+			escaped.WriteRune(r)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		if r <= 0xFFFF {
+			writeEscapedRune(&escaped, r)
+			continue
+		}
+
+		high, low := utf16.EncodeRune(r)
+		writeEscapedRune(&escaped, high)
+		writeEscapedRune(&escaped, low)
+	}
+
+	return escaped.String()
+}
+
+func writeEscapedRune(builder *strings.Builder, r rune) {
+	builder.WriteString("\\u")
+	hex := strconv.FormatInt(int64(r), 16)
+	for i := len(hex); i < 4; i++ {
+		builder.WriteByte('0')
+	}
+	builder.WriteString(hex)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/registry/chart_test.go b/pkg/registry/chart_test.go
index 77ccdaab7..f268e6e2b 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/chart_test.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/chart_test.go
@@ -63,6 +63,20 @@ func TestGenerateOCIChartAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 				"org.opencontainers.image.url":         "https://helm.sh",
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			"Chart values with non-ASCII",
+			&chart.Metadata{
+				Name:        "oci",
+				Version:     "0.0.1",
+				Description: "OCI Helm Chart for Kr\u00f6pke",
+			},
+			map[string]string{
+				"org.opencontainers.image.title":       "oci",
+				"org.opencontainers.image.version":     "0.0.1",
+				"org.opencontainers.image.created":     nowString,
+				"org.opencontainers.image.description": "OCI Helm Chart for Kr\\u00f6pke",
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			"Maintainer without email",
 			&chart.Metadata{
@@ -198,6 +212,22 @@ func TestGenerateOCIAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 				"anotherkey":                           "anothervalue",
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			"Custom annotations with non-ASCII values",
+			&chart.Metadata{
+				Name:    "oci",
+				Version: "0.0.1",
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					"extrakey": "Kr\u00f6pke",
+				},
+			},
+			map[string]string{
+				"org.opencontainers.image.title":   "oci",
+				"org.opencontainers.image.version": "0.0.1",
+				"org.opencontainers.image.created": nowString,
+				"extrakey":                         "Kr\\u00f6pke",
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			"Verify Chart Name and Version cannot be overridden from annotations",
 			&chart.Metadata{
@@ -231,6 +261,36 @@ func TestGenerateOCIAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestEscapeNonASCII(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name   string
+		input  string
+		expect string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:   "ASCII only",
+			input:  "alpha-._:@/+ 123",
+			expect: "alpha-._:@/+ 123",
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "Latin-1 characters",
+			input:  "Kr\u00f6pke",
+			expect: "Kr\\u00f6pke",
+		},
+		{
+			name:   "Emoji",
+			input:  "chart \U0001f600",
+			expect: "chart \\ud83d\\ude00",
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		if got := escapeNonASCII(tt.input); got != tt.expect {
+			t.Errorf("%s: expected %q, got %q", tt.name, tt.expect, got)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestGenerateOCICreatedAnnotations(t *testing.T) {
 
 	nowTime := time.Now()