diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2dc53ca..8fc17bc 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -158,3 +158,6 @@ cython_debug/
 #  and can be added to the global gitignore or merged into this file.  For a more nuclear
 #  option (not recommended) you can uncomment the following to ignore the entire idea folder.
 .idea/
+
+# macOS stuff
+.DS_Store
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 199411d..c0d18fd 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 # Change Log
 
-## [unpublished]
+## [0.5.13] - 2024-12-20
 
 - Fixed
   - Fixed a bug where assigning a dict value (such as `abc['something'] = 123`)
     would result in EdgeCaseError
+  - Fixed a bug where non-UTF-8 encoded files would crash _pydoclint_
+
+- Full diff
+  - https://github.com/jsh9/pydoclint/compare/0.5.12...0.5.13
 
 ## [0.5.12] - 2024-12-15
 
diff --git a/pydoclint/main.py b/pydoclint/main.py
index b9a2200..b49234d 100644
--- a/pydoclint/main.py
+++ b/pydoclint/main.py
@@ -638,7 +638,10 @@ def _checkFile(
     if not filename.is_file():  # sometimes folder names can end with `.py`
         return []
 
-    with open(filename, encoding='utf8') as fp:
+    with open(filename, encoding='utf-8', errors='replace') as fp:
+        # Note: errors='replace' would replace unrecognized characters with
+        #       question marks. This may not be a perfect solution, but for
+        #       not this may be good enough.
         src: str = ''.join(fp.readlines())
 
     tree: ast.Module = ast.parse(src)
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index f090d8d..5a9dac9 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [metadata]
 name = pydoclint
-version = 0.5.12
+version = 0.5.13
 description = A Python docstring linter that checks arguments, returns, yields, and raises sections
 long_description = file: README.md
 long_description_content_type = text/markdown
diff --git a/tests/data/edge_cases/19_file_encoding/nonascii.py b/tests/data/edge_cases/19_file_encoding/nonascii.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..12738e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/edge_cases/19_file_encoding/nonascii.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# coding: iso-8859-5
+# (Unlikely to be the default encoding for most testers.)
+# ±¶ÿàáâãäåæçèéêëìíîï <- Cyrillic characters
+u = "®âðÄ"
diff --git a/tests/data/edge_cases/19_file_encoding/nonascii2.py b/tests/data/edge_cases/19_file_encoding/nonascii2.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a1afce4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/edge_cases/19_file_encoding/nonascii2.py
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# coding: iso-8859-5
+# (Unlikely to be the default encoding for most testers.)
+# БЖџр�туфхцчшщъыь�ю� <- Cyrillic characters
+'Ўт№Ф'
diff --git a/tests/test_main.py b/tests/test_main.py
index 510aef8..ebcf388 100644
--- a/tests/test_main.py
+++ b/tests/test_main.py
@@ -1531,6 +1531,8 @@ def testNonAscii() -> None:
             ],
         ),
         ('18_assign_to_subscript/case.py', {}, []),
+        ('19_file_encoding/nonascii.py', {}, []),  # from: https://github.com/ipython/ipython/blob/0334d9f71e7a97394a73c15c663ca50d65df62e1/IPython/core/tests/nonascii.py
+        ('19_file_encoding/nonascii2.py', {}, []),  # from: https://github.com/ipython/ipython/blob/0334d9f71e7a97394a73c15c663ca50d65df62e1/IPython/core/tests/nonascii2.py
     ],
 )
 def testEdgeCases(