diff --git a/beetsplug/badfiles.py b/beetsplug/badfiles.py
index 0be08bae5f..fdfbf204a1 100644
--- a/beetsplug/badfiles.py
+++ b/beetsplug/badfiles.py
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ def run_command(self, cmd):
             status = e.returncode
         except OSError as e:
             raise CheckerCommandException(cmd, e)
-        output = output.decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
+        output = output.decode(sys.getdefaultencoding(), 'replace')
         return status, errors, [line for line in output.split("\n") if line]
 
     def check_mp3val(self, path):
@@ -134,12 +134,12 @@ def check_item(self, item):
             ui.print_(u"{}: checker exited with status {}"
                       .format(ui.colorize('text_error', dpath), status))
             for line in output:
-                ui.print_(u"  {}".format(displayable_path(line)))
+                ui.print_(u"  {}".format(line))
         elif errors > 0:
             ui.print_(u"{}: checker found {} errors or warnings"
                       .format(ui.colorize('text_warning', dpath), errors))
             for line in output:
-                ui.print_(u"  {}".format(displayable_path(line)))
+                ui.print_(u"  {}".format(line))
         elif self.verbose:
             ui.print_(u"{}: ok".format(ui.colorize('text_success', dpath)))
 
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 8e02c974ec..f311571d58 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -147,6 +147,9 @@ Fixes:
   Thanks to :user:`Holzhaus`.
   :bug:`1579`
 * Fetchart now respects the ``ignore`` and ``ignore_hidden`` settings. :bug:`1632`
+* :doc:`/plugins/badfiles`: Avoid a crash when the underlying tool emits
+  undecodable output.
+  :bug:`3165`
 
 .. _python-itunes: https://github.com/ocelma/python-itunes