Error when using pyinstaller: UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xff

Question

I have an issue when i compile a PyQt code with pyinstaller.

I use this line to compile:

c:\\Anaconda3\\Scripts\\pyinstaller.exe -y -F --distpath=\".         


        

Answer 1

In the newest version (3.5) , the line moved slightly to 427.

The best thing to do is to search for

out = out.decode(encoding)

and replace it with

out = out.decode(encoding, "replace")

I don't understand why they do not fix this annoying problem!

Answer 2

Changing compat.py works for me: out = out.decode(encoding, "replace")

This is a known problem on pyinstaller and the developers are working on it. https://github.com/pyinstaller/pyinstaller/pull/3895

I hope this bug will solved on the next update.

Answer 3

The error is fixed since Version 4.0

pip install "pyinstaller>=4.0.0"

Answer 4

I found an answer on another forum. I change the line number 369 in the Python\Lib\site-packages\Pyinstaller\compat.py file:

out = out.decode(encoding)

to

out = out.decode(encoding, errors='ignore')

or

out = out.decode(encoding, "replace")

Now I can compile my script without any issue. I still don't know why my issue happened in the first place but at least that compiles now.

Answer 5

The answer still works 2 years later BUT the line changed from 368 to 428.