diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMaker.java b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMaker.java
index 5df98199080f..84490b19fce0 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMaker.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMaker.java
@@ -203,19 +203,53 @@ public static Object convertJsonNode(JsonNode val, CharsetEncoder enc)
     return null;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Fix up a string so it can round-trip through UTF-8 encoding without loss of fidelity. This comes up when a string
+   * has surrogates (e.g. \uD900) that appear in invalid positions, such as alone rather than as part of a
+   * surrogate pair.
+   *
+   * This operation is useful because when a string cannot round-trip properly, it can cause it to sort differently
+   * relative to other strings after an encode/decode round-trip. This causes incorrect ordering in cases where strings
+   * are sorted, then encoded, then decoded again.
+   *
+   * @param s   string, or null
+   * @param enc UTF-8 encoder
+   *
+   * @return the original string, or a fixed version that can round-trip properly
+   */
   @Nullable
-  private static String charsetFix(String s, CharsetEncoder enc)
+  static String charsetFix(@Nullable String s, CharsetEncoder enc)
   {
-    if (s != null && !enc.canEncode(s)) {
-      // Some whacky characters are in this string (e.g. \uD900). These are problematic because they are decodeable
-      // by new String(...) but will not encode into the same character. This dance here will replace these
-      // characters with something more sane.
+    if (s != null && !isBmp(s) && !enc.canEncode(s)) {
+      // Note: the check isBmp isn't necessary for correct behavior, but it improves performance in the common case
+      // where all characters are in BMP. It short-circuits "enc.canEncode", which is a slow operation. The short
+      // circuit is valid because if every char in a string is in BMP, it is definitely encodable as UTF-8.
+
+      // This dance here will replace the original string with one that can be round-tripped.
       return StringUtils.fromUtf8(StringUtils.toUtf8(s));
     } else {
       return s;
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Returns whether every character in a string is in BMP (basic multilingual plane).
+   */
+  private static boolean isBmp(String s)
+  {
+    for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
+      final char c = s.charAt(i);
+
+      // All 16-bit code units are either valid code points, or surrogates. So if this char is not a surrogate,
+      // it must represent a code point in BMP.
+      if (Character.isSurrogate(c)) {
+        return false;
+      }
+    }
+
+    return true;
+  }
+
   private static boolean isFlatList(JsonNode list)
   {
     for (JsonNode obj : list) {
diff --git a/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMakerTest.java b/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMakerTest.java
index 5583081db10e..b471c24b40d1 100644
--- a/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMakerTest.java
+++ b/processing/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/java/util/common/parsers/JSONFlattenerMakerTest.java
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.math.BigInteger;
+import java.nio.charset.CharsetEncoder;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 
@@ -199,4 +201,17 @@ public void testDiscovery() throws JsonProcessingException
         ImmutableSet.copyOf(FLATTENER_MAKER_NESTED.discoverRootFields(node))
     );
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testCharsetFix()
+  {
+    final CharsetEncoder encoder = StandardCharsets.UTF_8.newEncoder();
+    Assert.assertEquals("hello", JSONFlattenerMaker.charsetFix("hello", encoder));
+    Assert.assertEquals("Apache® Druid", JSONFlattenerMaker.charsetFix("Apache® Druid", encoder));
+    Assert.assertEquals("hello?", JSONFlattenerMaker.charsetFix("hello\uD900", encoder));
+    Assert.assertEquals("hello?", JSONFlattenerMaker.charsetFix("hello\uD83D", encoder));
+    Assert.assertEquals("hello?", JSONFlattenerMaker.charsetFix("hello\uDCAF", encoder));
+    Assert.assertEquals("hello💯", JSONFlattenerMaker.charsetFix("hello\uD83D\uDCAF", encoder));
+    Assert.assertEquals("héllö", JSONFlattenerMaker.charsetFix("héllö", encoder));
+  }
 }