diff --git a/javaobj.py b/javaobj.py
index 2311ad3..0f882f9 100644
--- a/javaobj.py
+++ b/javaobj.py
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@
 import struct
 import sys
 
+from modifiedutf8 import decode_modified_utf8
+
 try:
     # Python 2
     from StringIO import StringIO as BytesIO
@@ -111,7 +113,10 @@ def to_str(data, encoding="UTF-8"):
         if type(data) is str:
             # Nothing to do
             return data
-        return str(data, encoding)
+        try:
+            return str(data, encoding)
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            return decode_modified_utf8(data)[0]
 
     def read_to_str(data):
         """
diff --git a/modifiedutf8.py b/modifiedutf8.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..830c249
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modifiedutf8.py
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+# Migrated from
+# https://github.com/swstephe/py2jdbc/blob/master/py2jdbc/mutf8.py
+
+class DecodeMap(object):
+    """
+    A utility class which manages masking, comparing and mapping in bits.
+    If the mask and compare fails, this will raise UnicodeDecodeError so
+    encode and decode will correctly handle bad characters.
+    """
+    def __init__(self, count, mask, value, bits):
+        """
+        Initialize a DecodeMap, entry from a static dictionary for the module.
+        It automatically calculates the mask for the bits for the value, (always
+        assumed to be at the bottom of the byte).
+        :param count: The number of bytes in this entire sequence.
+        :param mask: The mask to apply to the byte at this position.
+        :param value: The value of masked bits, (without shifting).
+        :param bits: The number of bits.
+        """
+        self.count = count
+        self.mask = mask
+        self.value = value
+        self.bits = bits
+        self.mask2 = (1 << bits) - 1
+
+    def apply(self, byte, value, data, i, count):
+        """
+        Apply mask, compare to expected value, shift and return
+        result.  Eventually, this could become a `reduce` function.
+        :param byte: The byte to compare
+        :param value: The currently accumulated value.
+        :param data: The data buffer, (array of bytes).
+        :param i: The position within the data buffer.
+        :param count: The position of this comparison.
+        :return: A new value with the bits merged in.
+        :raises: UnicodeDecodeError if maked bits don't match.
+        """
+        if byte & self.mask == self.value:
+            value <<= self.bits
+            value |= byte & self.mask2
+        else:
+            raise UnicodeDecodeError(
+                NAME, data, i, i + count,
+                "invalid {}-byte sequence".format(self.count)
+            )
+        return value
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return "DecodeMap({})".format(
+            ', '.join(
+                '{}=0x{:02x}'.format(n, getattr(self, n))
+                for n in ('count', 'mask', 'value', 'bits', 'mask2')
+            )
+        )
+
+
+DECODER_MAP = {
+    2: (
+        (0xc0, 0x80, 6),
+    ),
+    3: (
+        (0xc0, 0x80, 6),
+        (0xc0, 0x80, 6)
+    ),
+    6: (
+        (0xf0, 0xa0, 4),
+        (0xc0, 0x80, 6),
+        (0xff, 0xed, 0),
+        (0xf0, 0xb0, 4),
+        (0xc0, 0x80, 6),
+    )
+}
+DECODE_MAP = dict(
+    (k, tuple(
+        DecodeMap(k, *vv) for vv in v)
+     )
+    for k, v in DECODER_MAP.items()
+)
+
+
+def decoder(data):
+    """
+    This generator processes a sequence of bytes in Modified UTF-8 encoding and produces
+    a sequence of unicode string characters.  It takes bits from the byte until it matches
+    one of the known encoding serquences.
+    It uses `DecodeMap` to mask, compare and generate values.
+    :param data: a string of bytes in Modified UTF-8 encoding.
+    :return: a generator producing a string of unicode characters
+    :raises: `UnicodeDecodeError` if unrecognized byte in sequence is encountered.
+    """
+    def next_byte(_it, start, count):
+        try:
+            return next(_it)[1]
+        except StopIteration:
+            raise UnicodeDecodeError(
+                NAME, data, start, start + count,
+                "incomplete byte sequence"
+            )
+
+    it = iter(enumerate(data))
+    for i, d in it:
+        if d == 0x00:               # 00000000
+            raise UnicodeDecodeError(
+                NAME, data, i, i + 1,
+                "embedded zero-byte not allowed"
+            )
+        elif d & 0x80:              # 1xxxxxxx
+            if d & 0x40:            # 11xxxxxx
+                if d & 0x20:        # 111xxxxx
+                    if d & 0x10:    # 1111xxxx
+                        raise UnicodeDecodeError(
+                            NAME, data, i, i + 1,
+                            "invalid encoding character"
+                        )
+                    elif d == 0xed:
+                        value = 0
+                        for i1, dm in enumerate(DECODE_MAP[6]):
+                            d1 = next_byte(it, i, i1 + 1)
+                            value = dm.apply(d1, value, data, i, i1 + 1)
+                    else:           # 1110xxxx
+                        value = d & 0x0f
+                        for i1, dm in enumerate(DECODE_MAP[3]):
+                            d1 = next_byte(it, i, i1 + 1)
+                            value = dm.apply(d1, value, data, i, i1 + 1)
+                else:               # 110xxxxx
+                    value = d & 0x1f
+                    for i1, dm in enumerate(DECODE_MAP[2]):
+                        d1 = next_byte(it, i, i1 + 1)
+                        value = dm.apply(d1, value, data, i, i1 + 1)
+            else:                   # 10xxxxxx
+                raise UnicodeDecodeError(
+                    NAME, data, i, i + 1,
+                    "misplaced continuation character"
+                )
+        else:                       # 0xxxxxxx
+            value = d
+        # noinspection PyCompatibility
+        yield mutf8_unichr(value)
+
+
+def decode_modified_utf8(data, errors='strict'):
+    """
+    Decodes a sequence of bytes to a unicode text and length using Modified UTF-8.
+    This function is designed to be used with Python `codecs` module.
+    :param data: a string of bytes in Modified UTF-8
+    :param errors: handle decoding errors
+    :return: unicode text and length
+    :raises: `UnicodeDecodeError` if sequence is invalid.
+    """
+    value, length = u'', 0
+    it = iter(decoder(data))
+    while True:
+        try:
+            value += next(it)
+            length += 1
+        except StopIteration:
+            break
+        except UnicodeDecodeError as e:
+            if errors == 'strict':
+                raise e
+            elif errors == 'ignore':
+                pass
+            elif errors == 'replace':
+                value += u'\uFFFD'
+                length += 1
+    return value, length
+
+def mutf8_unichr(value):
+    return chr(value)