diff --git a/properties.go b/properties.go
index 933fc1e..7e32eef 100644
--- a/properties.go
+++ b/properties.go
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ import (
 	"regexp"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
+	"unicode/utf8"
 
 	"github.com/arduino/go-paths-helper"
 )
@@ -129,9 +130,23 @@ func NewFromHashmap(orig map[string]string) *Map {
 	return res
 }
 
+func toUtf8(iso8859_1_buf []byte) string {
+	buf := make([]rune, len(iso8859_1_buf))
+	for i, b := range iso8859_1_buf {
+		buf[i] = rune(b)
+	}
+	return string(buf)
+}
+
 // LoadFromBytes reads properties data and makes a Map out of it.
 func LoadFromBytes(bytes []byte) (*Map, error) {
-	text := string(bytes)
+	var text string
+	if utf8.Valid(bytes) {
+		text = string(bytes)
+	} else {
+		// Assume ISO8859-1 encoding and convert to UTF-8
+		text = toUtf8(bytes)
+	}
 	text = strings.Replace(text, "\r\n", "\n", -1)
 	text = strings.Replace(text, "\r", "\n", -1)
 
diff --git a/properties_test.go b/properties_test.go
index 46f2c76..d5fa25e 100644
--- a/properties_test.go
+++ b/properties_test.go
@@ -384,3 +384,9 @@ func TestExtractSubIndexLists(t *testing.T) {
 	s5 := m.ExtractSubIndexLists("cinque.discovery.required")
 	require.Len(t, s5, 0)
 }
+
+func TestLoadingNonUTF8Properties(t *testing.T) {
+	m, err := LoadFromPath(paths.New("testdata/non-utf8.properties"))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, "Aáa", m.Get("maintainer"))
+}
diff --git a/testdata/non-utf8.properties b/testdata/non-utf8.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34390ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testdata/non-utf8.properties
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+maintainer=A�a