diff --git a/pre_commit_hooks/detect_aws_credentials.py b/pre_commit_hooks/detect_aws_credentials.py
index da80ab4..328116b 100644
--- a/pre_commit_hooks/detect_aws_credentials.py
+++ b/pre_commit_hooks/detect_aws_credentials.py
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ def check_file_for_aws_keys(filenames, keys):
     bad_files = []
 
     for filename in filenames:
-        with open(filename, 'r') as content:
+        with open(filename, 'r', errors='ignore') as content:
             text_body = content.read()
             for key in keys:
                 # naively match the entire file, low chance of incorrect