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

383
2
13

answered Dec 08 '17 at 07:40

ymmx

4,302
5
23
60

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

336
3
10

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

321
3
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

561
1
10
24

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

511
4
17

@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.

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

update

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