diff --git a/src/calibre/library/cli.py b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
index 9a8ad88c13..60d0a98f2a 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/cli.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/cli.py
@@ -196,6 +196,8 @@ def do_list(db, fields, sort_by, ascending, search_text, line_width, separator,
         for x in data:
             if isinstance(x['fmt_epub'], unicode):
                 x['fmt_epub'] = x['fmt_epub'].encode('utf-8')
+            if isinstance(x['cover'], unicode):
+                x['cover'] = x['cover'].encode('utf-8')
         template = MarkupTemplate(STANZA_TEMPLATE)
         return template.generate(id="urn:calibre:main", data=data, subtitle=subtitle,
                 sep=os.sep, quote=quote, updated=db.last_modified()).render('xml')