diff --git a/fawltydeps/extract_imports.py b/fawltydeps/extract_imports.py
index 7c06f08d..c59ebd9d 100644
--- a/fawltydeps/extract_imports.py
+++ b/fawltydeps/extract_imports.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 import logging
 import tokenize
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Iterable, Iterator, Optional, TextIO, Tuple, Union
+from typing import BinaryIO, Iterable, Iterator, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
 import isort
 
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ def parse_python_file(
 
 
 def parse_source(
-    src: CodeSource, stdin: Optional[TextIO] = None
+    src: CodeSource, stdin: Optional[BinaryIO] = None
 ) -> Iterator[ParsedImport]:
     """Invoke a suitable parser for the given source.
 
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ def parse_source(
 
 
 def parse_sources(
-    sources: Iterable[CodeSource], stdin: Optional[TextIO] = None
+    sources: Iterable[CodeSource], stdin: Optional[BinaryIO] = None
 ) -> Iterator[ParsedImport]:
     """Parse import statements from the given sources."""
     for source in sources:
diff --git a/fawltydeps/main.py b/fawltydeps/main.py
index 6e387419..1b969265 100644
--- a/fawltydeps/main.py
+++ b/fawltydeps/main.py
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 import sys
 from functools import partial
 from operator import attrgetter
-from typing import Dict, Iterator, List, Optional, Set, TextIO, Type
+from typing import BinaryIO, Dict, Iterator, List, Optional, Set, TextIO, Type
 
 try:  # import from Pydantic V2
     from pydantic.v1.json import custom_pydantic_encoder
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class Analysis:  # pylint: disable=too-many-instance-attributes
         .imports).
     """
 
-    def __init__(self, settings: Settings, stdin: Optional[TextIO] = None):
+    def __init__(self, settings: Settings, stdin: Optional[BinaryIO] = None):
         self.settings = settings
         self.stdin = stdin
         self.version = version()
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ def unused_deps(self) -> List[UnusedDependency]:
         )
 
     @classmethod
-    def create(cls, settings: Settings, stdin: Optional[TextIO] = None) -> "Analysis":
+    def create(cls, settings: Settings, stdin: Optional[BinaryIO] = None) -> "Analysis":
         """Exercise FawltyDeps' core logic according to the given settings.
 
         Perform the actions specified in 'settings.actions' and apply the other
@@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ def print_output(
 
 def main(
     cmdline_args: Optional[List[str]] = None,  # defaults to sys.argv[1:]
-    stdin: TextIO = sys.stdin,
+    stdin: BinaryIO = sys.stdin.buffer,
     stdout: TextIO = sys.stdout,
 ) -> int:
     """Command-line entry point."""
diff --git a/tests/test_cmdline.py b/tests/test_cmdline.py
index d3257609..2c08ca8a 100644
--- a/tests/test_cmdline.py
+++ b/tests/test_cmdline.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 from .test_extract_imports_simple import generate_notebook
 from .utils import (
     assert_unordered_equivalence,
+    dedent_bytes,
     run_fawltydeps_function,
     run_fawltydeps_subprocess,
 )
@@ -282,6 +283,25 @@ def test_list_imports__pick_multiple_files_dir_and_code__prints_all_imports(
     assert returncode == 0
 
 
+def test_list_imports__stdin_with_legacy_encoding__prints_all_imports():
+    code = dedent_bytes(
+        b"""\
+        # -*- coding: big5 -*-
+
+        # Some Traditional Chinese characters:
+        chars = "\xa4@\xa8\xc7\xa4\xa4\xa4\xe5\xa6r\xb2\xc5"
+
+        import numpy
+        """
+    )
+    output, returncode = run_fawltydeps_function(
+        "--list-imports", "--code", "-", to_stdin=code
+    )
+    expect = ["numpy"]
+    assert_unordered_equivalence(output.splitlines()[:-2], expect)
+    assert returncode == 0
+
+
 def test_list_deps_detailed__dir__prints_deps_from_requirements_txt(fake_project):
     tmp_path = fake_project(
         imports=["requests", "pandas"],
diff --git a/tests/test_extract_imports_simple.py b/tests/test_extract_imports_simple.py
index a6cfc18c..5907dd91 100644
--- a/tests/test_extract_imports_simple.py
+++ b/tests/test_extract_imports_simple.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """Test that we can extract simple imports from Python code."""
 import json
 import logging
+from io import BytesIO
 from pathlib import Path
 from textwrap import dedent
 from typing import Dict, List, Tuple, Union
@@ -561,3 +562,19 @@ def test_parse_sources__ignore_first_party_imports(
     ]
 
     assert list(parse_sources(code_sources)) == expect
+
+
+def test_parse_sources__legacy_encoding_on_stdin__extracts_import():
+    code = dedent_bytes(
+        b"""\
+        # -*- coding: big5 -*-
+
+        # Some Traditional Chinese characters:
+        chars = "\xa4@\xa8\xc7\xa4\xa4\xa4\xe5\xa6r\xb2\xc5"
+
+        import numpy
+        """
+    )
+
+    expect = imports_w_linenos([("numpy", 6)], "<stdin>")
+    assert list(parse_sources([CodeSource("<stdin>")], BytesIO(code))) == expect
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index 19aafc45..417bf9de 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass, field, replace
 from pathlib import Path
 from textwrap import dedent
-from typing import Any, Dict, Iterable, Iterator, List, Optional, Tuple
+from typing import Any, Dict, Iterable, Iterator, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
 from fawltydeps.main import main
 from fawltydeps.packages import IdentityMapping, LocalPackageResolver, Package
@@ -129,19 +129,21 @@ def run_fawltydeps_subprocess(
 def run_fawltydeps_function(
     *args: str,
     config_file: Path = Path("/dev/null"),
-    to_stdin: Optional[str] = None,
+    to_stdin: Optional[Union[str, bytes]] = None,
     basepath: Optional[Path] = None,
 ) -> Tuple[str, int]:
     """Run FawltyDeps with `main` function. Designed for unit tests.
 
     Ignores logging output and returns stdout and the exit code
     """
+    if isinstance(to_stdin, str):
+        to_stdin = to_stdin.encode()
     output = io.StringIO()
     exit_code = main(
         cmdline_args=([str(basepath)] if basepath else [])
         + [f"--config-file={str(config_file)}"]
         + list(args),
-        stdin=io.StringIO(to_stdin),
+        stdin=io.BytesIO(to_stdin or b""),
         stdout=output,
     )