diff --git a/src/transformers/configuration_utils.py b/src/transformers/configuration_utils.py
index bc3ecf77ba1..fd8786692ca 100755
--- a/src/transformers/configuration_utils.py
+++ b/src/transformers/configuration_utils.py
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ class PretrainedConfig(PushToHubMixin):
 
             raise EnvironmentError(msg)
 
-        except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, UnicodeDecodeError):
             msg = (
                 f"Couldn't reach server at '{config_file}' to download configuration file or "
                 "configuration file is not a valid JSON file. "