diff --git a/src/python/devtest/os/Connection.py b/src/python/devtest/os/Connection.py
index d35ada2..260e2eb 100644
--- a/src/python/devtest/os/Connection.py
+++ b/src/python/devtest/os/Connection.py
@@ -120,7 +120,11 @@ class Connection(ABC): # export
         r = await self._read(act_timeout, flags)
         if r is not None:
             if flags & self.Flags.ReadDecodeToString:
-                r = r.decode('utf-8')
+                try:
+                    r = r.decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
+                except Exception as e:
+                    slog(WARNING, 'Failed to decode string, returning undecoded ({}): "{}"'.format(e, r))
+                    return str(r)
             if flags & self.Flags.ReadStripNewline:
                 if len(r) and r[-1] == '\n':
                     r = r[0:-1]