diff --git a/cve_bin_tool/parsers/env.py b/cve_bin_tool/parsers/env.py
index 5c776ca861..4e003c5401 100644
--- a/cve_bin_tool/parsers/env.py
+++ b/cve_bin_tool/parsers/env.py
@@ -93,7 +93,11 @@ def run_checker(self, filename):
             str: ScanInfo objects for the packages listed in the file.
         """
         self.filename = filename
-        contents = pathlib.Path(self.filename).read_text()
+        try:
+            contents = pathlib.Path(self.filename).read_text()
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            self.logger.debug(f"{filename} is an invalid .env file")
+            return
 
         env_config = self.parse_file_contents(contents)