diff --git a/wire/config.php b/wire/config.php
index 575d49e9..7c43b624 100644
--- a/wire/config.php
+++ b/wire/config.php
@@ -912,6 +912,17 @@ $config->dbSocket = '';
  */
 $config->dbQueryLogMax = 500;
 
+/**
+ * Remove 4-byte characters (like emoji) when dbEngine is not utf8mb4?
+ * 
+ * When charset is not “utf8mb4” and this value is true, 4-byte UTF-8 characters are stripped
+ * out of inserted values when possible. Note that this can add some overhead to INSERTs. 
+ * 
+ * @var bool
+ * 
+ */
+$config->dbStripMB4 = false;
+
 
 
 /*** 8. MODULES *********************************************************************************/
diff --git a/wire/core/Config.php b/wire/core/Config.php
index 9d4bc0c2..d2ad7127 100644
--- a/wire/core/Config.php
+++ b/wire/core/Config.php
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
  * @property array $dbSqlModes Set or adjust SQL mode per MySQL version, where array keys are MySQL version and values are SQL mode command(s). #pw-group-database
  * @property int $dbQueryLogMax Maximum number of queries WireDatabasePDO will log in memory, when debug mode is enabled (default=1000). #pw-group-database
  * @property string $dbInitCommand Database init command, for PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_INIT_COMMAND. Note placeholder {charset} gets replaced with $config->dbCharset. #pw-group-database
- * $property array $dbSqlModes Set, add or remove SQL mode based on MySQL version. See default in /wire/config.php for details. #pw-group-database
+ * @property bool $dbStripMB4 When dbEngine is not utf8mb4 and this is true, we will attempt to remove 4-byte characters (like emoji) from inserts when possible. Note that this adds some overhead. #pw-group-database
  * 
  * @property array $pageList Settings specific to Page lists. #pw-group-modules
  * @property array $pageEdit Settings specific to Page editors. #pw-group-modules
diff --git a/wire/core/PagesEditor.php b/wire/core/PagesEditor.php
index 504586fc..79789e4b 100644
--- a/wire/core/PagesEditor.php
+++ b/wire/core/PagesEditor.php
@@ -38,6 +38,11 @@ class PagesEditor extends Wire {
 	
 	public function __construct(Pages $pages) {
 		$this->pages = $pages;
+
+		$config = $pages->wire('config');
+		if($config->dbStripMB4 && strtolower($config->dbEngine) != 'utf8mb4') {
+			$this->addHookAfter('Fieldtype::sleepValue', $this, 'hookFieldtypeSleepValueStripMB4');
+		}
 	}
 	
 	public function isCloning() {
@@ -1384,4 +1389,16 @@ class PagesEditor extends Wire {
 		
 		return count($sorts);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Hook after Fieldtype::sleepValue to remove MB4 characters when present and applicable
+	 * 
+	 * This hook is only used if $config->dbStripMB4 is true and $config->dbEngine is not “utf8mb4”. 
+	 * 
+	 * @param HookEvent $event
+	 * 
+	 */
+	protected function hookFieldtypeSleepValueStripMB4(HookEvent $event) {
+		$event->return = $this->wire('sanitizer')->removeMB4($event->return); 
+	}
 }
diff --git a/wire/core/Sanitizer.php b/wire/core/Sanitizer.php
index c3590c12..b7da2518 100644
--- a/wire/core/Sanitizer.php
+++ b/wire/core/Sanitizer.php
@@ -918,6 +918,7 @@ class Sanitizer extends Wire {
 	 * - `maxLength` (int): maximum characters allowed, or 0=no max (default=255).
 	 * - `maxBytes` (int): maximum bytes allowed (default=0, which implies maxLength*4).
 	 * - `stripTags` (bool): strip markup tags? (default=true).
+	 * - `stripMB4` (bool): strip emoji and other 4-byte UTF-8? (default=false). 
 	 * - `allowableTags` (string): markup tags that are allowed, if stripTags is true (use same format as for PHP's `strip_tags()` function.
 	 * - `multiLine` (bool): allow multiple lines? if false, then $newlineReplacement below is applicable (default=false).
 	 * - `newlineReplacement` (string): character to replace newlines with, OR specify boolean TRUE to remove extra lines (default=" ").
@@ -933,6 +934,7 @@ class Sanitizer extends Wire {
 			'maxLength' => 255, // maximum characters allowed, or 0=no max
 			'maxBytes' => 0,  // maximum bytes allowed (0 = default, which is maxLength*4)
 			'stripTags' => true, // strip markup tags
+			'stripMB4' => false, // strip Emoji and 4-byte characters? 
 			'allowableTags' => '', // tags that are allowed, if stripTags is true (use same format as for PHP's strip_tags function)
 			'multiLine' => false, // allow multiple lines? if false, then $newlineReplacement below is applicable
 			'newlineReplacement' => ' ', // character to replace newlines with, OR specify boolean TRUE to remove extra lines
@@ -962,7 +964,9 @@ class Sanitizer extends Wire {
 
 		if($options['stripTags']) $value = strip_tags($value, $options['allowableTags']); 
 
-		if($options['inCharset'] != $options['outCharset']) $value = iconv($options['inCharset'], $options['outCharset'], $value); 
+		if($options['inCharset'] != $options['outCharset']) $value = iconv($options['inCharset'], $options['outCharset'], $value);
+		
+		if($options['stripMB4']) $value = $this->removeMB4($value);
 
 		if($options['maxLength']) {
 			if(empty($options['maxBytes'])) $options['maxBytes'] = $options['maxLength'] * 4;
@@ -1010,6 +1014,7 @@ class Sanitizer extends Wire {
 	 *  - `maxLength` (int): maximum characters allowed, or 0=no max (default=16384 or 16kb).
 	 *  - `maxBytes` (int): maximum bytes allowed (default=0, which implies maxLength*3 or 48kb).
 	 *  - `stripTags` (bool): strip markup tags? (default=true).
+	 *  - `stripMB4` (bool): strip emoji and other 4-byte UTF-8? (default=false). 
 	 *  - `allowableTags` (string): markup tags that are allowed, if stripTags is true (use same format as for PHP's `strip_tags()` function.
 	 *  - `allowCRLF` (bool): allow CR+LF newlines (i.e. "\r\n")? (default=false, which means "\r\n" is replaced with "\n"). 
 	 *  - `inCharset` (string): input character set (default="UTF-8").
@@ -1799,6 +1804,41 @@ class Sanitizer extends Wire {
 		return str_replace(array("\r\n", "\r", "\n"), $replacement, $str);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Removes 4-byte UTF-8 characters (like emoji) that produce error with with MySQL regular “UTF8” encoding
+	 * 
+	 * Returns the same value type that it is given. If given something other than a string or array, it just
+	 * returns it without modification. 
+	 * 
+	 * @param string|array $value String or array containing strings
+	 * @return string|array|mixed 
+	 * 
+	 */
+	function removeMB4($value) {
+		if(empty($value)) return $value;
+		if(is_array($value)) {
+			// process array recursively, looking for strings to convert
+			foreach($value as $key => $val) {
+				if(empty($val)) continue;
+				if(is_string($val) || is_array($val)) $value[$key] = $this->removeMB4($val);
+			}
+		} else if(is_string($value)) {
+			if(strlen($value) > 3 && max(array_map('ord', str_split($value))) >= 240) {
+				// string contains 4-byte characters
+				$regex =
+					'!(?:' .
+					'\xF0[\x90-\xBF][\x80-\xBF]{2}' .
+					'|[\xF1-\xF3][\x80-\xBF]{3}' .
+					'|\xF4[\x80-\x8F][\x80-\xBF]{2}' .
+					')!s';
+				$value = preg_replace($regex, '', $value);
+			}
+		} else {
+			// not a string or an array, leave as-is
+		}
+		return $value;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Sanitize value to string
 	 *
diff --git a/wire/core/WireDatabasePDO.php b/wire/core/WireDatabasePDO.php
index b34ef302..4597618f 100644
--- a/wire/core/WireDatabasePDO.php
+++ b/wire/core/WireDatabasePDO.php
@@ -63,6 +63,14 @@ class WireDatabasePDO extends Wire implements WireDatabase {
 	 */
 	protected $init = false;
 
+	/**
+	 * Strip 4-byte characters in “quote” and “escapeStr” methods? (only when dbEngine is not utf8mb4)
+	 * 
+	 * @var bool
+	 * 
+	 */
+	protected $stripMB4 = false;
+
 	/**
 	 * PDO connection settings
 	 * 
@@ -167,6 +175,7 @@ class WireDatabasePDO extends Wire implements WireDatabase {
 		if($this->init || !$this->isWired()) return;
 		$this->init = true; 
 		$config = $this->wire('config');
+		$this->stripMB4 = $config->dbStripMB4 && strtolower($config->dbEngine) != 'utf8mb4';
 		$this->queryLogMax = (int) $config->dbQueryLogMax;
 		$sqlModes = $config->dbSqlModes;
 		if(is_array($sqlModes)) {
@@ -631,7 +640,7 @@ class WireDatabasePDO extends Wire implements WireDatabase {
 	 *
 	 */
 	public function escapeStr($str) {
-		return substr($this->pdo()->quote($str), 1, -1);
+		return substr($this->quote($str), 1, -1);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -660,6 +669,9 @@ class WireDatabasePDO extends Wire implements WireDatabase {
 	 *
 	 */
 	public function quote($str) {
+		if($this->stripMB4 && is_string($str) && !empty($str)) {
+			$str = $this->wire('sanitizer')->removeMB4($str);
+		}
 		return $this->pdo()->quote($str);
 	}