diff --git a/src/flask_httpauth.py b/src/flask_httpauth.py
index eca596f..75414e9 100644
--- a/src/flask_httpauth.py
+++ b/src/flask_httpauth.py
@@ -217,15 +217,18 @@ def get_auth(self):
         value = request.headers[header].encode('utf-8')
         try:
             scheme, credentials = value.split(b' ', 1)
-            username, password = b64decode(credentials).split(b':', 1)
+            encoded_username, encoded_password = b64decode(
+                credentials).split(b':', 1)
         except (ValueError, TypeError):
             return None
         try:
-            username = username.decode('utf-8')
-            password = password.decode('utf-8')
+            username = encoded_username.decode('utf-8')
+            password = encoded_password.decode('utf-8')
         except UnicodeDecodeError:
-            username = None
-            password = None
+            # try to decode again with latin-1, which should always work
+            username = encoded_username.decode('latin1')
+            password = encoded_password.decode('latin1')
+
         return Authorization(
             scheme, {'username': username, 'password': password})
 
diff --git a/tests/test_basic_verify_password.py b/tests/test_basic_verify_password.py
index 4f383ab..bbd4465 100644
--- a/tests/test_basic_verify_password.py
+++ b/tests/test_basic_verify_password.py
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ def basic_verify_auth_verify_password(username, password):
                     return password == 'hello'
                 elif username == 'susan':
                     return password == 'bye'
+                elif username == 'garçon':
+                    return password == 'áéíóú'
                 elif username == '':
                     g.anon = True
                     return True
@@ -31,6 +33,8 @@ def basic_verify_auth_verify_password(username, password):
                     return 'john'
                 elif username == 'susan' and password == 'bye':
                     return 'susan'
+                elif username == 'garçon' and password == 'áéíóú':
+                    return 'garçon'
                 elif username == '':
                     g.anon = True
                     return ''
@@ -59,17 +63,24 @@ def basic_verify_auth_route():
         self.client = app.test_client()
 
     def test_verify_auth_login_valid(self):
-        creds = base64.b64encode(b'susan:bye').decode('utf-8')
+        creds = base64.b64encode(b'susan:bye').decode()
         response = self.client.get(
             '/basic-verify', headers={'Authorization': 'Basic ' + creds})
         self.assertEqual(response.data, b'basic_verify_auth:susan anon:False')
 
+    def test_verify_auth_login_valid_latin1(self):
+        creds = base64.b64encode('garçon:áéíóú'.encode('latin1')).decode()
+        response = self.client.get(
+            '/basic-verify', headers={'Authorization': 'Basic ' + creds})
+        self.assertEqual(response.data.decode(),
+                         'basic_verify_auth:garçon anon:False')
+
     def test_verify_auth_login_empty(self):
         response = self.client.get('/basic-verify')
         self.assertEqual(response.data, b'basic_verify_auth: anon:True')
 
     def test_verify_auth_login_invalid(self):
-        creds = base64.b64encode(b'john:bye').decode('utf-8')
+        creds = base64.b64encode(b'john:bye').decode()
         response = self.client.get(
             '/basic-verify', headers={'Authorization': 'Basic ' + creds})
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 403)