diff --git a/applets/pbot-vm/host/lib/Languages/_default.pm b/applets/pbot-vm/host/lib/Languages/_default.pm
index c870d826..73ee6e45 100755
--- a/applets/pbot-vm/host/lib/Languages/_default.pm
+++ b/applets/pbot-vm/host/lib/Languages/_default.pm
@@ -309,18 +309,14 @@ sub execute {
     my $result = "";
     my $got_result = 0;
 
-    while (my $line = decode('UTF-8', <$output>)) {
+    while (my $line = decode('UTF-8', <$output>, sub { sprintf '\\\\x%02X', shift })) {
         $line =~ s/[\r\n]+$//;
         last if $line =~ /^result:end$/;
 
         if ($line =~ /^result:/) {
             $line =~ s/^result://;
-
-            $line = encode('UTF-8', $line);
-            my $octets = decode('UTF-8', $line, sub { sprintf '\\\\x%02X', shift });
-            $line = encode('UTF-8', $octets, Encode::FB_CROAK);
-
-            my $compile_out = decode_json($line);
+            # use JSON::XS->new->decode() for non-utf8 decoding
+            my $compile_out = JSON::XS->new->decode($line);
             $result .= "$compile_out->{result}\n";
             $got_result = 1;
             next;
diff --git a/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm b/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm
index 401562d7..62dc91b5 100644
--- a/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm
+++ b/lib/PBot/VERSION.pm
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ use PBot::Imports;
 # These are set by the /misc/update_version script
 use constant {
     BUILD_NAME     => "PBot",
-    BUILD_REVISION => 4628,
+    BUILD_REVISION => 4629,
     BUILD_DATE     => "2023-03-12",
 };