diff --git a/pipreqs/__init__.py b/pipreqs/__init__.py
index 0491276..79ecee4 100755
--- a/pipreqs/__init__.py
+++ b/pipreqs/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 __author__ = 'Vadim Kravcenko'
 __email__ = 'vadim.kravcenko@gmail.com'
-__version__ = '0.4.11'
+__version__ = '0.4.12'
diff --git a/pipreqs/pipreqs.py b/pipreqs/pipreqs.py
index 24eeeb7..9e6a084 100644
--- a/pipreqs/pipreqs.py
+++ b/pipreqs/pipreqs.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def get_all_imports(
         candidates += [os.path.splitext(fn)[0] for fn in files]
         for file_name in files:
             file_name = os.path.join(root, file_name)
-            with open(file_name, "r", encoding=encoding) as f:
+            with open(file_name, "r", encoding=encoding, errors="ignore") as f:
                 contents = f.read()
             try:
                 tree = ast.parse(contents)
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ def get_locally_installed_packages(encoding=None):
             for item in files:
                 if "top_level" in item:
                     item = os.path.join(root, item)
-                    with open(item, "r", encoding=encoding) as f:
+                    with open(item, "r", encoding=encoding, errors="ignore") as f:
                         package = root.split(os.sep)[-1].split("-")
                         try:
                             package_import = f.read().strip().split("\n")