diff --git a/aqt/editor.py b/aqt/editor.py
index d0be1543c..3c85c6fba 100644
--- a/aqt/editor.py
+++ b/aqt/editor.py
@@ -477,7 +477,8 @@ class Editor(object):
             # misbehaving apps may include a null byte in the text
             txt = txt.replace("\x00", "")
             # reverse the url quoting we added to get images to display
-            txt = unicode(urllib2.unquote(txt.encode("utf8")), "utf8")
+            txt = unicode(urllib2.unquote(
+                txt.encode("utf8")), "utf8", "replace")
             self.note.fields[self.currentField] = txt
             self.mw.requireReset()
             if not self.addMode: