diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 81388e5..cfa06d7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 
 - Use file README.md as package long description
 
+### Fixed
+
+- Fix UnicodeDecodeError in case of invalid UTF-8 in input file
+
 ## Version 4.0.0 (2022-01-23)
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/msgcheck/po.py b/msgcheck/po.py
index 2249275..c229796 100644
--- a/msgcheck/po.py
+++ b/msgcheck/po.py
@@ -468,7 +468,7 @@ def read(self):  # pylint: disable=too-many-locals
         """
         self.msgs = []
         checker = Checker()
-        with open(self.filename, "r", encoding="utf-8") as po_file:
+        with open(self.filename, "r", encoding="utf-8", errors="ignore") as po_file:
             for line in po_file:
                 message = checker.check_line(line.strip())
                 if message:
diff --git a/tests/fr_invalid_utf8.po b/tests/fr_invalid_utf8.po
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12a243e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fr_invalid_utf8.po
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#
+# Copyright (C) 2024 Sébastien Helleu <flashcode@flashtux.org>
+#
+# This file is part of msgcheck.
+#
+# Msgcheck is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# Msgcheck is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with msgcheck.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+
+#
+# Gettext file with invalid UTF-8 chars.
+#
+
+msgid ""
+msgstr ""
+"Project-Id-Version: msgcheck\n"
+"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: flashcode@flashtux.org\n"
+"POT-Creation-Date: 2014-05-03 12:00+0200\n"
+"PO-Revision-Date: 2024-09-12 17:02+0200\n"
+"Last-Translator: Sébastien Helleu <flashcode@flashtux.org>\n"
+"Language-Team: flashcode@flashtux.org\n"
+"Language: fr\n"
+"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
+"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-13\n"
+"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
+"Plural-Forms: nplurals=2; plural=(n > 1);\n"
+
+# Normal string with special chars
+msgid "id-õäöü"
+msgstr "str-þð"
diff --git a/tests/test_msgcheck.py b/tests/test_msgcheck.py
index 87b72ba..b29ba5d 100644
--- a/tests/test_msgcheck.py
+++ b/tests/test_msgcheck.py
@@ -434,3 +434,16 @@ def test_punct_full_stop_ja_zh(language, msgid, msgstr, error_message):
         assert error_message in errors[0].message
     else:
         assert not errors
+
+
+def test_invalid_utf8():
+    """Test checks on a file with invalid UTF-8 chars."""
+    po_check = PoCheck()
+    po_check.set_check("fuzzy", True)
+    result = po_check.check_files([local_path("fr_invalid_utf8.po")])
+
+    # be sure we have one file in result
+    assert len(result) == 1
+
+    # the file has no errors
+    assert len(result[0][1]) == 0