Error2 reports
Fix UnicodeDecodeError
in Unstructured
✅ Solution
The UnicodeDecodeError typically occurs when a file's encoding is not UTF-8 and the decoding process fails to interpret the bytes correctly. To fix this, explicitly specify the correct encoding (e.g., "utf-16-le", "latin-1") when opening or reading files, or when calling `partition()` or `partition_csv()` functions, by passing the `encoding` argument. For issues with detect_filetype, ensure files are properly encoded before processing or handle potential encoding errors by using `errors='ignore'` or `errors='replace'` during decoding.
Related Issues
Real GitHub issues where developers encountered this error:
Timeline
First reported:Aug 19, 2026
Last reported:Aug 19, 2026
Need More Help?
View the full changelog and migration guides for Unstructured
View Unstructured Changelog