diff --git a/invesalius/reader/dicom.py b/invesalius/reader/dicom.py
index 92f2537..192ac90 100644
--- a/invesalius/reader/dicom.py
+++ b/invesalius/reader/dicom.py
@@ -1262,7 +1262,7 @@ class Parser():
             
             try:
                 # Returns a unicode decoded in the own dicom encoding
-                return name.decode(encoding)
+                return name.decode(encoding, 'replace')
             except(UnicodeEncodeError):
                 return name
 
@@ -1284,7 +1284,7 @@ class Parser():
         if (data):
             encoding = self.GetEncoding()
             # Returns a unicode decoded in the own dicom encoding
-            return data.decode(encoding)
+            return data.decode(encoding, 'replace')
         return ""
 
 
@@ -1489,7 +1489,7 @@ class Parser():
                 if isinstance(data, unicode):
                     return data
                 encoding = self.GetEncoding()
-                return data.decode(encoding)
+                return data.decode(encoding, 'replace')
         except(KeyError):
             return ""
 
diff --git a/invesalius/reader/dicom_reader.py b/invesalius/reader/dicom_reader.py
index bff4743..af3292d 100644
--- a/invesalius/reader/dicom_reader.py
+++ b/invesalius/reader/dicom_reader.py
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ class LoadDicom:
                     data_dict[group] = {}
 
                 if not(utils.VerifyInvalidPListCharacter(data[1])):
-                    data_dict[group][field] = data[1].decode(encoding)
+                    data_dict[group][field] = data[1].decode(encoding, 'replace')
                 else:
                     data_dict[group][field] = "Invalid Character"
             
--
libgit2 0.21.2