diff --git a/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/specification.py b/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/specification.py
index 4aaa93344e..dc338fcf72 100644
--- a/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/specification.py
+++ b/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/specification.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 
 """
 import json
-import yaml
 import logging
 
 from yaml import load
@@ -232,7 +231,8 @@ def _load_spec_dict(self):
         :return: The dict with the open api data
         """
         try:
-            spec_dict = json.loads(self.http_response.body)
+            decoded_response = self.http_response.body.decode('ascii', 'ignore')
+            spec_dict = json.loads(decoded_response)
         except ValueError:
             # Seems like the OpenAPI was specified using Yaml instead of
             # JSON. Let's parse the Yaml data!
diff --git a/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/data/swagger-special-chars.json b/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/data/swagger-special-chars.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a3eeff15d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/data/swagger-special-chars.json
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+{
+  "swagger": "2.0",
+  "info": {
+    "version": "1.0.0",
+    "title": "Swagger Petstore, special chars: ąęćźżó^żć√≤Ķńå",
+    "description": "A sample API that uses a petstore as an example to demonstrate features in the swagger-2.0 specification",
+    "termsOfService": "http://swagger.io/terms/",
+    "contact": {
+      "name": "Swagger API Team"
+    },
+    "license": {
+      "name": "MIT"
+    }
+  },
+  "host": "petstore.swagger.io",
+  "basePath": "/api",
+  "schemes": [
+    "http"
+  ],
+  "consumes": [
+    "application/json"
+  ],
+  "produces": [
+    "application/json"
+  ],
+  "paths": {
+    "/pets": {
+      "get": {
+        "description": "Returns all pets from the system that the user has access to",
+        "produces": [
+          "application/json"
+        ],
+        "responses": {
+          "200": {
+            "description": "A list of pets.",
+            "schema": {
+              "type": "array",
+              "items": {
+                "$ref": "#/definitions/Pet"
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    "/pets/{ąęćźżó^żć√≤Ķńå}": {
+      "get": {
+        "description": "Let's see if I'll return an error"
+      }
+    }
+  },
+  "definitions": {
+    "Pet": {
+      "type": "object",
+      "required": [
+        "id",
+        "name"
+      ],
+      "properties": {
+        "id": {
+          "type": "integer",
+          "format": "int64"
+        },
+        "name": {
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "tag": {
+          "type": "string"
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/test_specification.py b/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/test_specification.py
index e6e96efb6a..3eb9636167 100644
--- a/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/test_specification.py
+++ b/w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/test_specification.py
@@ -595,6 +595,18 @@ def test_parameter_handler_multiple_paths_and_headers(self):
         handler = SpecificationHandler(http_response)
         self.check_parameter_setting(handler)
 
+    def test_specification_handler_can_handle_spec_with_non_ascii_chars(self):
+        with open(
+                'w3af/core/data/parsers/doc/open_api/tests/data/swagger-special-chars.json',
+        ) as file_:
+            spec_as_string = file_.read()
+        http_response = self.generate_response(spec_as_string)
+        spec_handler = SpecificationHandler(http_response)
+        result = spec_handler.get_api_information()
+        for _ in result:
+            pass
+        self.assertFalse(spec_handler._parsing_errors)
+
     def check_parameter_setting(self, spec_handler):
         data = [d for d in spec_handler.get_api_information()]
         self.assertIsNotNone(data)