diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_common.py b/lib/ansible/module_common.py
index 3133ab26ba8..7beac36bee7 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/module_common.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_common.py
@@ -136,7 +136,10 @@ class ModuleReplacer(object):
             complex_args_json = utils.jsonify(complex_args)
             # We force conversion of module_args to str because module_common calls shlex.split,
             # a standard library function that incorrectly handles Unicode input before Python 2.7.3.
-            encoded_args = repr(module_args.encode('utf-8'))
+            try:
+                encoded_args = repr(module_args.encode('utf-8'))
+            except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                encoded_args = repr(module_args)
             encoded_lang = repr(C.DEFAULT_MODULE_LANG)
             encoded_complex = repr(complex_args_json)