diff --git a/ext/libxml/php_libxml.h b/ext/libxml/php_libxml.h
index badbd6bec8d..84e1f15445d 100644
--- a/ext/libxml/php_libxml.h
+++ b/ext/libxml/php_libxml.h
@@ -102,6 +102,16 @@ PHP_LIBXML_API void php_libxml_issue_error(int level, const char *msg TSRMLS_DC)
 PHP_LIBXML_API void php_libxml_initialize();
 PHP_LIBXML_API void php_libxml_shutdown();
 
+#define ZVAL_XML_STRING(z, s, flags) {								\
+	UConverter *libxml_utf_conv = NULL;								\
+	if (UG(unicode)) {												\
+		libxml_utf_conv = UG(utf8_conv);							\
+	}																\
+	ZVAL_U_STRING(libxml_utf_conv, z, s, flags);					\
+}
+
+#define RETVAL_XML_STRING(s, flags)			ZVAL_XML_STRING(return_value, s, flags)
+
 #ifdef ZTS
 #define LIBXML(v) TSRMG(libxml_globals_id, zend_libxml_globals *, v)
 #else