# Better location information for "utf-8 can't decode codec..." error

**URL:** https://forum.qiime2.org/t/better-location-information-for-utf-8-cant-decode-codec-error/2113
**Category:** Ideas and Suggestions
**Tags:** metadata
**Created:** [December 6, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/better-location-information-for-utf-8-cant-decode-codec-error/2113 "2017-12-06T14:00:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 13

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### Author: ![jairideout](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/jairideout/32/9_2.png) [@jairideout](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/jairideout)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/better-location-information-for-utf-8-cant-decode-codec-error/2113/13 "2018-02-16T16:57:22Z")

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In the QIIME 2 `2018.2` release, Metadata now has explicit support for UTF-8 files and Unicode characters. If a non-UTF-8 metadata file is used, a more informative error message is displayed.

There are a number of other changes to QIIME 2 Metadata in the `2018.2` release. See [this forum announcement](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/summary-of-changes-to-metadata-in-qiime-2-2018-2-release/2884) for details on what changed, as well as the updated [Metadata tutorial](https://docs.qiime2.org/2018.2/tutorials/metadata/). 🌞

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