diff --git a/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py b/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py
index a23d247b6c3..aaf1f668037 100644
--- a/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py
+++ b/xarray/backends/netCDF4_.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import functools
 import operator
 import os
+import sys
 from collections.abc import Iterable
 from contextlib import suppress
 from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
@@ -371,7 +372,13 @@ class NetCDF4DataStore(WritableCFDataStore):
     )
 
     def __init__(
-        self, manager, group=None, mode=None, lock=NETCDF4_PYTHON_LOCK, autoclose=False
+        self,
+        manager,
+        group=None,
+        mode=None,
+        lock=NETCDF4_PYTHON_LOCK,
+        autoclose=False,
+        encoding=None,
     ):
         import netCDF4
 
@@ -391,7 +398,7 @@ def __init__(
         self._group = group
         self._mode = mode
         self.format = self.ds.data_model
-        self._filename = self.ds.filepath()
+        self._filename = self.ds.filepath(encoding=encoding)
         self.is_remote = is_remote_uri(self._filename)
         self.lock = ensure_lock(lock)
         self.autoclose = autoclose
@@ -410,6 +417,7 @@ def open(
         lock=None,
         lock_maker=None,
         autoclose=False,
+        encoding=None,
     ):
         import netCDF4
 
@@ -422,6 +430,9 @@ def open(
                 "with engine='scipy' or 'h5netcdf'"
             )
 
+        if encoding is None:
+            encoding = sys.getfilesystemencoding()
+
         if format is None:
             format = "NETCDF4"
 
@@ -443,13 +454,21 @@ def open(
             diskless=diskless,
             persist=persist,
             format=format,
+            encoding=encoding,
         )
         if auto_complex is not None:
             kwargs["auto_complex"] = auto_complex
         manager = CachingFileManager(
             netCDF4.Dataset, filename, mode=mode, kwargs=kwargs
         )
-        return cls(manager, group=group, mode=mode, lock=lock, autoclose=autoclose)
+        return cls(
+            manager,
+            group=group,
+            mode=mode,
+            lock=lock,
+            autoclose=autoclose,
+            encoding=encoding,
+        )
 
     def _acquire(self, needs_lock=True):
         with self._manager.acquire_context(needs_lock) as root:
@@ -661,6 +680,7 @@ def open_dataset(
         auto_complex=None,
         lock=None,
         autoclose=False,
+        encoding=None,
     ) -> Dataset:
         filename_or_obj = _normalize_path(filename_or_obj)
         store = NetCDF4DataStore.open(
@@ -674,6 +694,7 @@ def open_dataset(
             auto_complex=auto_complex,
             lock=lock,
             autoclose=autoclose,
+            encoding=encoding,
         )
 
         store_entrypoint = StoreBackendEntrypoint()