diff --git a/oml/media/txt.py b/oml/media/txt.py
index a247016..362f946 100644
--- a/oml/media/txt.py
+++ b/oml/media/txt.py
@@ -28,8 +28,8 @@ def info(path):
     return data
 
 def extract_text(path):
-    with open(path) as fd:
-        data = fd.read()
+    with open(path, 'rb') as fd:
+        data = fd.read().decode('utf-8', errors='replace')
     return data
 
 def extract_isbn(text):
diff --git a/oml/node/server.py b/oml/node/server.py
index d4a7266..e921a4b 100644
--- a/oml/node/server.py
+++ b/oml/node/server.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ class NodeHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
             content = settings.release
         else:
             if valid(key, data, sig):
-                action, args = json.loads(data)
+                action, args = json.loads(data.decode('utf-8'))
                 logger.debug('NODE action %s %s (%s)', action, args, key)
                 if action == 'ping':
                     content = {
diff --git a/static/txt.js/txt.py b/static/txt.js/txt.py
index f4daf19..d34e5c4 100755
--- a/static/txt.js/txt.py
+++ b/static/txt.js/txt.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ def render(infile, outfile):
 
         for line in f:
 
-            for line_ in line.decode('utf-8').strip().split('\r'):
+            for line_ in line.strip().split('\r'):
 
                 lines = wrapText(
                     line_,