diff --git a/tractor/_ipc.py b/tractor/_ipc.py
index 2f51004..6679366 100644
--- a/tractor/_ipc.py
+++ b/tractor/_ipc.py
@@ -185,11 +185,15 @@ class MsgpackTCPStream(MsgTransport):
                     # ignore decoding errors for now and assume they have to
                     # do with a channel drop - hope that receiving from the
                     # channel will raise an expected error and bubble up.
-                    decoded_bytes = msg_bytes.decode()
+                    try:
+                        data = msg_bytes.decode()
+                    except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                        data = msg_bytes
+
                     log.error(
                         '`msgspec` failed to decode!?\n'
                         'dumping bytes:\n'
-                        f'{decoded_bytes}'
+                        f'{data}'
                     )
                     decodes_failed += 1
                 else: