diff --git a/i3pystatus/mpd.py b/i3pystatus/mpd.py
index 2ade8a5..2632eef 100644
--- a/i3pystatus/mpd.py
+++ b/i3pystatus/mpd.py
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ cleartext to the server.)"),
                 sock.recv(8192)
             sock.send((command + "\n").encode("utf-8"))
         try:
-            reply = sock.recv(16384).decode("utf-8")
+            reply = sock.recv(16384).decode("utf-8", "replace")
             replylines = reply.split("\n")[:-2]
 
             return dict(