diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libtheora/fix_encoding.patch b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libtheora/fix_encoding.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d0f2127cd7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libtheora/fix_encoding.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+diff --git a/doc/spec/spec.tex b/doc/spec/spec.tex
+index 2206e10..34a0724 100644
+--- a/doc/spec/spec.tex
++++ b/doc/spec/spec.tex
+@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
+ \usepackage{float}
+ \usepackage[pdfpagemode=None,pdfstartview=FitH,pdfview=FitH,colorlinks=true]%
+  {hyperref}
++\usepackage{utf8x}[inputenc]
+ 
+ \newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}[section]
+ \newcommand{\idx}[1]{{\ensuremath{\mathit{#1}}}}
diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libtheora/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libtheora/package.py
index 5255a195cf..c67e6531b9 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libtheora/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/libtheora/package.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ class Libtheora(AutotoolsPackage):
     depends_on('libpng')
 
     patch('exit-prior-to-running-configure.patch', when='@1.1.1')
+    patch('fix_encoding.patch', when='@1.1:')
     patch('https://gitlab.xiph.org/xiph/theora/-/commit/7288b539c52e99168488dc3a343845c9365617c8.patch',
           sha256='2e4f891f6880386d9391f3e4eaf4a23493de4eea532f9b5cb8a04b5f7cd09301', when='^libpng@1.6:')