diff --git a/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_matrix.py b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_matrix.py
index 6c00838f..dfbe490b 100644
--- a/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_matrix.py
+++ b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_matrix.py
@@ -24,8 +24,7 @@ from telethon.tl.types import *
 
 from .. import user as u, puppet as p
 from ..db import Message as DBMessage
-
-TEMP_ENC = "utf-16-le"
+from .util import add_surrogates, remove_surrogates
 
 log = logging.getLogger("mau.fmt.mx")
 
@@ -98,8 +97,7 @@ class MatrixParser(HTMLParser):
             self._open_tags_meta.appendleft(url)
 
         if entity_type and tag not in self._building_entities:
-            # See "TEXT LEN EXPLANATION" near start of file
-            offset = int(len(self.text.encode(TEMP_ENC)) / 2)
+            offset = len(self.text)
             self._building_entities[tag] = entity_type(offset=offset, length=0, **args)
 
     def _list_depth(self):
@@ -133,8 +131,7 @@ class MatrixParser(HTMLParser):
                 text = f"{indent}{n}. {text}"
                 list_format_offset = len(indent) + 3
         for tag, entity in self._building_entities.items():
-            # See "TEXT LEN EXPLANATION" near start of file
-            entity.length += int(len(text.strip("\n").encode(TEMP_ENC)) / 2)
+            entity.length += len(text.strip("\n"))
             entity.offset += list_format_offset
 
         if text.endswith("\n"):
@@ -160,8 +157,8 @@ class MatrixParser(HTMLParser):
 def matrix_to_telegram(html):
     try:
         parser = MatrixParser()
-        parser.feed(html)
-        return parser.text, parser.entities
+        parser.feed(add_surrogates(html))
+        return remove_surrogates(parser.text), parser.entities
     except Exception:
         log.exception("Failed to convert Matrix format:\nhtml=%s", html)
 
@@ -179,4 +176,3 @@ def matrix_reply_to_telegram(content, tg_space, room_id=None):
     except KeyError:
         pass
     return None
-
diff --git a/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py
index 6dbf78b3..aa74e3fa 100644
--- a/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py
+++ b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/from_telegram.py
@@ -22,8 +22,7 @@ from mautrix_appservice import MatrixRequestError
 
 from .. import user as u, puppet as p
 from ..db import Message as DBMessage
-
-TEMP_ENC = "utf-16-le"
+from .util import add_surrogates, remove_surrogates
 
 log = logging.getLogger("mau.fmt.tg")
 
@@ -46,8 +45,8 @@ def telegram_reply_to_matrix(evt, source):
 
 async def telegram_to_matrix(evt, source, native_replies=False, message_link_in_reply=False,
                              main_intent=None, reply_text="Reply"):
-    text = evt.message
-    html = _telegram_entities_to_matrix_catch(evt.message, evt.entities) if evt.entities else None
+    text = add_surrogates(evt.message)
+    html = _telegram_entities_to_matrix_catch(text, evt.entities) if evt.entities else None
     relates_to = {}
 
     if evt.fwd_from:
@@ -116,7 +115,7 @@ async def telegram_to_matrix(evt, source, native_replies=False, message_link_in_
     if html:
         html = html.replace("\n", "<br/>")
 
-    return text, html, relates_to
+    return remove_surrogates(text), remove_surrogates(html), relates_to
 
 
 def _telegram_entities_to_matrix_catch(text, entities):
@@ -132,20 +131,16 @@ def _telegram_entities_to_matrix_catch(text, entities):
 def _telegram_entities_to_matrix(text, entities):
     if not entities:
         return text
-    # See "TEXT LEN EXPLANATION" near start of file
-    text = text.encode(TEMP_ENC)
     html = []
     last_offset = 0
     for entity in entities:
-        entity.offset *= 2
-        entity.length *= 2
         if entity.offset > last_offset:
-            html.append(escape(text[last_offset:entity.offset].decode(TEMP_ENC)))
+            html.append(escape(text[last_offset:entity.offset]))
         elif entity.offset < last_offset:
             continue
 
         skip_entity = False
-        entity_text = escape(text[entity.offset:entity.offset + entity.length].decode(TEMP_ENC))
+        entity_text = escape(text[entity.offset:entity.offset + entity.length])
         entity_type = type(entity)
 
         if entity_type == MessageEntityBold:
@@ -199,6 +194,6 @@ def _telegram_entities_to_matrix(text, entities):
         else:
             skip_entity = True
         last_offset = entity.offset + (0 if skip_entity else entity.length)
-    html.append(text[last_offset:].decode(TEMP_ENC))
+    html.append(text[last_offset:])
 
     return "".join(html)
diff --git a/mautrix_telegram/formatter/util.py b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/util.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ff35519d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mautrix_telegram/formatter/util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# Unicode surrogate handling
+# From https://github.com/LonamiWebs/Telethon/blob/master/telethon/extensions/markdown.py
+import struct
+
+
+def add_surrogates(text):
+    if text is None:
+        return None
+    return "".join("".join(chr(y) for y in struct.unpack("<HH", x.encode("utf-16-le")))
+                   if (0x10000 <= ord(x) <= 0x10FFFF) else x for x in text)
+
+
+def remove_surrogates(text):
+    if text is None:
+        return None
+    return text.encode("utf-16", "surrogatepass").decode("utf-16")