diff --git a/administrator/components/com_admin/script.php b/administrator/components/com_admin/script.php
index a41f8aaadf0ad..b3f466bff25fd 100644
--- a/administrator/components/com_admin/script.php
+++ b/administrator/components/com_admin/script.php
@@ -1860,16 +1860,13 @@ private function serverClaimsUtf8mb4Support($format)
 	private function convertUtf8mb4QueryToUtf8($query)
 	{
 		// If it's not an ALTER TABLE or CREATE TABLE command there's nothing to convert
-		$beginningOfQuery = substr($query, 0, 12);
-		$beginningOfQuery = strtoupper($beginningOfQuery);
-
-		if (!in_array($beginningOfQuery, array('ALTER TABLE ', 'CREATE TABLE')))
+		if (!preg_match('/^(ALTER|CREATE)\s+TABLE\s+/i', $query))
 		{
 			return $query;
 		}
 
-		// Replace utf8mb4 with utf8
-		return str_replace('utf8mb4', 'utf8', $query);
+		// Replace utf8mb4 with utf8 if not within single or double quotes or name quotes
+		return preg_replace('/[`"\'][^`"\']*[`"\'](*SKIP)(*FAIL)|utf8mb4/i', 'utf8', $query);
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/libraries/cms/installer/installer.php b/libraries/cms/installer/installer.php
index 2ba6a6be16672..3393d700f6a63 100644
--- a/libraries/cms/installer/installer.php
+++ b/libraries/cms/installer/installer.php
@@ -2465,15 +2465,12 @@ private function serverClaimsUtf8mb4Support($format)
 	private function convertUtf8mb4QueryToUtf8($query)
 	{
 		// If it's not an ALTER TABLE or CREATE TABLE command there's nothing to convert
-		$beginningOfQuery = substr($query, 0, 12);
-		$beginningOfQuery = strtoupper($beginningOfQuery);
-
-		if (!in_array($beginningOfQuery, array('ALTER TABLE ', 'CREATE TABLE')))
+		if (!preg_match('/^(ALTER|CREATE)\s+TABLE\s+/i', $query))
 		{
 			return $query;
 		}
 
-		// Replace utf8mb4 with utf8
-		return str_replace('utf8mb4', 'utf8', $query);
+		// Replace utf8mb4 with utf8 if not within single or double quotes or name quotes
+		return preg_replace('/[`"\'][^`"\']*[`"\'](*SKIP)(*FAIL)|utf8mb4/i', 'utf8', $query);
 	}
 }
diff --git a/libraries/joomla/database/driver.php b/libraries/joomla/database/driver.php
index 481006b6b2f94..a2ca2c686d056 100644
--- a/libraries/joomla/database/driver.php
+++ b/libraries/joomla/database/driver.php
@@ -890,16 +890,13 @@ public function convertUtf8mb4QueryToUtf8($query)
 		}
 
 		// If it's not an ALTER TABLE or CREATE TABLE command there's nothing to convert
-		$beginningOfQuery = substr($query, 0, 12);
-		$beginningOfQuery = strtoupper($beginningOfQuery);
-
-		if (!in_array($beginningOfQuery, array('ALTER TABLE ', 'CREATE TABLE')))
+		if (!preg_match('/^(ALTER|CREATE)\s+TABLE\s+/i', $query))
 		{
 			return $query;
 		}
 
-		// Replace utf8mb4 with utf8
-		return str_replace('utf8mb4', 'utf8', $query);
+		// Replace utf8mb4 with utf8 if not within single or double quotes or name quotes
+		return preg_replace('/[`"\'][^`"\']*[`"\'](*SKIP)(*FAIL)|utf8mb4/i', 'utf8', $query);
 	}
 
 	/**