diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index eac70a29..a692bb0c 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ Feature release.
   :meth:`~mopidy.ext.Extension.register_gstreamer_elements`. Use
   :meth:`mopidy.ext.Extension.setup` instead, as most extensions already do.
 
+**Audio**
+
+- Fix proper decoding of exception messages that depends on the user's locale.
+
 **HTTP frontend**
 
 - CherryPy and ws4py have been replaced with Tornado. This will hopefully
@@ -98,6 +102,8 @@ Feature release.
   a ``local scan`` before running the server the first time resulted in a
   crash. (Fixes: :issue:`703`)
 
+- Fix proper decoding of exception messages that depends on the user's locale.
+
 
 v0.18.3 (2014-02-16)
 ====================
diff --git a/mopidy/audio/scan.py b/mopidy/audio/scan.py
index 589ece6d..e872d88c 100644
--- a/mopidy/audio/scan.py
+++ b/mopidy/audio/scan.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import gst  # noqa
 
 from mopidy import exceptions
 from mopidy.models import Album, Artist, Track
-from mopidy.utils import path
+from mopidy.utils import encoding, path
 
 
 class Scanner(object):
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@ class Scanner(object):
             message = self._bus.pop()
 
             if message.type == gst.MESSAGE_ERROR:
-                raise exceptions.ScannerError(message.parse_error()[0])
+                raise exceptions.ScannerError(
+                    encoding.locale_decode(message.parse_error()[0]))
             elif message.type == gst.MESSAGE_EOS:
                 return tags
             elif message.type == gst.MESSAGE_ASYNC_DONE:
diff --git a/mopidy/local/json.py b/mopidy/local/json.py
index c2bde99c..a8997367 100644
--- a/mopidy/local/json.py
+++ b/mopidy/local/json.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import time
 import mopidy
 from mopidy import local, models
 from mopidy.local import search, storage, translator
+from mopidy.utils import encoding
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -22,8 +23,10 @@ def load_library(json_file):
     try:
         with gzip.open(json_file, 'rb') as fp:
             return json.load(fp, object_hook=models.model_json_decoder)
-    except (IOError, ValueError) as e:
-        logger.warning('Loading JSON local library failed: %s', e)
+    except (IOError, ValueError) as error:
+        logger.warning(
+            'Loading JSON local library failed: %s',
+            encoding.locale_decode(error))
         return {}