diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/commands/command.py b/lib/ansible/modules/commands/command.py
index 5a814c1ece6..28bd4a59aea 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/commands/command.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/commands/command.py
@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ import os
 import shlex
 
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
+from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.collections import is_iterable
 
 
 def check_command(module, commandline):
@@ -215,6 +217,10 @@ def main():
 
     args = args or argv
 
+    # All args must be strings
+    if is_iterable(args, include_strings=False):
+        args = [to_native(arg, errors='surrogate_or_strict', nonstring='simplerepr') for arg in args]
+
     if chdir:
         chdir = os.path.abspath(chdir)
         os.chdir(chdir)