diff --git a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/ordering/StringComparators.java b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/ordering/StringComparators.java
index ee2e779d7c6..58e228ad2c6 100644
--- a/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/ordering/StringComparators.java
+++ b/processing/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/query/ordering/StringComparators.java
@@ -21,9 +21,7 @@ package org.apache.druid.query.ordering;
 
 import com.google.common.collect.Ordering;
 import com.google.common.primitives.Ints;
-import com.google.common.primitives.UnsignedBytes;
 import org.apache.druid.common.guava.GuavaUtils;
-import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.maven.artifact.versioning.DefaultArtifactVersion;
 
 import java.math.BigDecimal;
@@ -51,20 +49,13 @@ public class StringComparators
 
   public static class LexicographicComparator extends StringComparator
   {
-    private static final Ordering<String> ORDERING = Ordering.from(new Comparator<String>()
-    {
-      @Override
-      public int compare(String s, String s2)
-      {
-        return UnsignedBytes.lexicographicalComparator().compare(
-            StringUtils.toUtf8(s), StringUtils.toUtf8(s2));
-      }
-    }).nullsFirst();
-    
+    // Equivalent to comparing UTF-8 encoded strings as byte arrays.
+    private static final Ordering<String> ORDERING = Ordering.from(String::compareTo).nullsFirst();
+
     @Override
     public int compare(String s, String s2)
     {
-      // Avoid conversion to bytes for equal references
+      // Avoid comparisons for equal references
       // Assuming we mostly compare different strings, checking s.equals(s2) will only make the comparison slower.
       //noinspection StringEquality
       if (s == s2) {