diff --git a/pymysqlreplication/row_event.py b/pymysqlreplication/row_event.py
index cfbfbd21..52d18d89 100644
--- a/pymysqlreplication/row_event.py
+++ b/pymysqlreplication/row_event.py
@@ -249,6 +249,11 @@ def __read_fsp(self, column):
 
     @staticmethod
     def charset_to_encoding(name):
+        # Pymysql has no charset for utf8mb3, and this breaks decoding.
+        # Mysql has deprecated utf8mb3, and in mariadb utf8 is an alias for utf8mb3
+        if name == 'utf8mb3':
+            name = 'utf8'
+
         charset = charset_by_name(name)
         return charset.encoding if charset else name