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="." MyQt.py

then I get this error message:

      File "c:\anaconda36bis\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\hooks\hook-zmq.py", line
18, in <module>
    hiddenimports.extend(collect_submodules('zmq.backend'))
  File "c:\anaconda36bis\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\utils\hooks\__init__.py",
 line 619, in collect_submodules
    repr(pkg_dir), package))
  File "c:\anaconda36bis\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\utils\hooks\__init__.py",
 line 90, in exec_statement
    return __exec_python_cmd(cmd)
  File "c:\anaconda36bis\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\utils\hooks\__init__.py",
 line 77, in __exec_python_cmd
    txt = exec_python(*cmd, env=pp_env)
  File "c:\anaconda36bis\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\compat.py", line 562, in
exec_python
    return exec_command(*cmdargs, **kwargs)
  File "c:\anaconda36bis\lib\site-packages\PyInstaller\compat.py", line 369, in
exec_command
    out = out.decode(encoding)
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xff in position 152: invali
d start byte

The error message is not clear to me and I don't understand why this happens.

Is it possible that pyinstaller try to use a module which is not compatible? I use these in my script:

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
from __future__ import absolute_import
from __future__ import division
from __future__ import print_function
from __future__ import unicode_literals
# from PyQt5.QtGui import *
from PyQt5.QtCore import *
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import * 
import sys
import numpy as np
import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('Qt5Agg')
from matplotlib.figure import Figure
from matplotlib.backends.backend_qt5agg import FigureCanvasQTAgg as     FigureCanvas
from matplotlib.backends.backend_qt5agg import NavigationToolbar2QT as     NavigationToolbar
from scipy.ndimage import imread
from scipy.ndimage.morphology import binary_dilation
from scipy.optimize import curve_fit, leastsq

update

the issue printed in the console come directly after

142859 INFO: Loading module hook "hook-zmq.py"...

So it should mean that the error is coming from zmq?

score 38 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 10 '19 at 12:57

38

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.

edited Jan 10 '19 at 12:57

DonQuiKong

413
4
15

answered Dec 08 '17 at 07:40

ymmx

4,769
5
32
64

1

Thank you so much ! This is so simple but it remove a big problem. I lost 2 days searching a solution. Thank you, thank you. And a lot of people are recent problem like us, but I don't know why neither. – Mathieu Gauquelin Dec 18 '17 at 16:01
Your welcom. I'm supposing that will be corrected in the next release. – ymmx Dec 19 '17 at 08:23
I hope so. Do you have also the problem with the PyQt folder ? I have to copy all its content at the same path as itself because in other case there is a failure in the opening of the GUI. – Mathieu Gauquelin Dec 19 '17 at 12:45
No, I didn't have issue with pyqt – ymmx Dec 19 '17 at 13:18
Same problem with Pyinstaller 3.5 and Python 3.7, but this fix didn't work. Still looking for a solution... – decadenza Nov 05 '18 at 13:40
@decadenza did you find one? – DonQuiKong Jan 07 '19 at 12:21
@DonQuiKong No, I gave up. – decadenza Jan 10 '19 at 12:41
3

@decadenza I've fixed mine yesterday by using out = out.decode(encoding, "replace") instead of ignore. – DonQuiKong Jan 10 '19 at 12:55
By the way, I'm pretty sure it's either a Qt5 or a matplotlib thing. Just in case someone else comes here and wants to investigate further. – DonQuiKong Jan 10 '19 at 13:38
I want to give you a big hug for solving this problem for me. – Jim Chen Jun 19 '19 at 10:53

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 05 '19 at 16:08

10

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

answered Nov 05 '19 at 16:08

Nexarius

346
4
11

Dr ALOUI · Answer 3 · 2019-11-06T11:29:52.700

7

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!

edited Nov 06 '19 at 11:29

answered Nov 06 '19 at 11:22

Dr ALOUI

331
4
8

1

Thanks, this worked for me (already twice on different computers) in Anaconda. – DovaX Mar 25 '20 at 13:15

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 03 '19 at 10:59

1

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.

answered Apr 03 '19 at 10:59

droebi

872
1
14
27

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 11 '20 at 13:16

0

The error is fixed since Version 4.0

pip install "pyinstaller>=4.0.0"

answered Nov 11 '20 at 13:16

b0lle

732
6
19

@Zandao same here – Ahmed4end Jun 04 '21 at 10:01
in version 4.7 - don't work again(((( Fixed with add 'replace' – Andrei Gurko Dec 02 '21 at 12:19
in version 4.10 the error now is in the file "codecs.py" – Diego Montania Mar 29 '22 at 19:10

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 20 '21 at 11:47

I faced this problem running under MSYS2. To fix that i copy the project folder from C:/Users/Χρήστος/Desktop to C:/Python/Scripts

then i run the pyinstaller command from MSYS2 terminal, and finally i run the executable the command prompt console.

The error was that in the first path there is "Χρήστος" (greek name), but in the second there isn't.

Note: I search for file compat.py in msys64 directory but i don't found it.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 17 '22 at 05:52

0

Note necessarily the answer to this issue, but for others who might find this.

I've use TAB to auto complete my pyinstaller command and it defaulted to the .exe file in my root instead of the .py file.

answered Dec 17 '22 at 05:52

Martin Cronje

175
1
6

AlbertoC. · Answer 8 · 2023-08-17T23:16:37.627

0

Change the encoding to UTF-8 in the .py file that has the issue or delete the character/s that don't belong to the UTF-8.

This can happen from copy/pasting text from other sources.

edited Aug 17 '23 at 23:16

answered Aug 03 '23 at 05:05

AlbertoC.

3
3

1

Is this an answer? If so is the answer just ***changed the encoding to UTF-8***. There seems to be a lot of unnecessary text so it's difficult to determine what your stating here. Please edit your answer to make it more clear what your attempting to convey. Also note line spacing can be achieved using `
` which would also help. – moken Aug 07 '23 at 04:48

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

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