diff --git a/simple_term_menu.py b/simple_term_menu.py
index 23d7544..25a07a3 100755
--- a/simple_term_menu.py
+++ b/simple_term_menu.py
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 __email__ = "i.meyer@fz-juelich.de"
 __copyright__ = "Copyright © 2021 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH. All rights reserved."
 __license__ = "MIT"
-__version_info__ = (1, 6, 3)
+__version_info__ = (1, 6, 4)
 __version__ = ".".join(map(str, __version_info__))
 
 
@@ -1473,7 +1473,7 @@ def _read_next_key(self, ignore_case: bool = True) -> str:
             self._paint_menu()
             self._paint_before_next_read = False
         # blocks until any amount of bytes is available
-        code = os.read(self._tty_in.fileno(), 80).decode("ascii", errors="ignore")
+        code = os.read(self._tty_in.fileno(), 80).decode("utf-8", errors="ignore")
         self._reading_next_key = False
         if code in self._terminal_code_to_codename:
             return self._terminal_code_to_codename[code]