diff --git a/internal/util-logging/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/util/JLine3.scala b/internal/util-logging/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/util/JLine3.scala
index 48046ae66..3cb4342eb 100644
--- a/internal/util-logging/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/util/JLine3.scala
+++ b/internal/util-logging/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/util/JLine3.scala
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
 package sbt.internal.util
 
 import java.io.{ InputStream, OutputStream, PrintWriter }
-import java.nio.charset.Charset
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer
+import java.nio.charset.{ CharacterCodingException, Charset, CharsetDecoder }
 import java.util.{ Arrays, EnumSet }
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.{ AtomicBoolean, AtomicReference }
 import org.jline.utils.InfoCmp.Capability
@@ -77,6 +78,27 @@ private[sbt] object JLine3 {
       new DumbTerminal(term.inputStream, term.outputStream)
     else wrapTerminal(term)
   }
+  private[util] def decodeInput(decoder: CharsetDecoder, inputStream: InputStream): Int = {
+    val bytes = new Array[Byte](4)
+    var i = 0
+    var res = -2
+    do {
+      inputStream.read() match {
+        case -1 => res = -1
+        case byte =>
+          bytes(i) = byte.toByte
+          i += 1
+          val bb = ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes, 0, i)
+          try {
+            val cb = decoder.decode(bb)
+            val it = cb.codePoints().iterator
+            if (it.hasNext) res = it.next
+          } catch { case _: CharacterCodingException => }
+      }
+
+    } while (i < 4 && res == -2)
+    res
+  }
   private[this] def wrapTerminal(term: Terminal): JTerminal = {
     new AbstractTerminal(
       term.name,
@@ -140,10 +162,8 @@ private[sbt] object JLine3 {
         val thread = new AtomicReference[Thread]
         private def fillBuffer(): Unit = thread.synchronized {
           thread.set(Thread.currentThread)
-          buffer.put(
-            try input.read()
-            catch { case _: InterruptedException => -3 }
-          )
+          try buffer.put(decodeInput(encoding.newDecoder, term.inputStream))
+          catch { case _: InterruptedException => buffer.put(-3) }
         }
         override def close(): Unit = thread.get match {
           case null =>
diff --git a/internal/util-logging/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/util/UTF8DecoderSpec.scala b/internal/util-logging/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/util/UTF8DecoderSpec.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..957a95b4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/util-logging/src/test/scala/sbt/internal/util/UTF8DecoderSpec.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+/*
+ * sbt
+ * Copyright 2011 - 2018, Lightbend, Inc.
+ * Copyright 2008 - 2010, Mark Harrah
+ * Licensed under Apache License 2.0 (see LICENSE)
+ */
+
+package sbt.internal.util
+
+import java.io.InputStream
+import java.nio.charset.Charset
+import org.scalatest.FlatSpec
+import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue
+
+class UTF8DecoderSpec extends FlatSpec {
+  val decoder = Charset.forName("UTF-8").newDecoder
+  "ascii characters" should "not be modified" in {
+    val inputStream = new InputStream {
+      override def read(): Int = 'c'.toInt
+    }
+    assert(JLine3.decodeInput(decoder, inputStream) == 'c'.toInt)
+  }
+  "swedish characters" should "be handled" in {
+    val bytes = new LinkedBlockingQueue[Int]
+    // these are the utf-8 codes for an umlauted a in swedish
+    Seq(195, 164).foreach(b => bytes.put(b))
+    val inputStream = new InputStream {
+      override def read(): Int = Option(bytes.poll).getOrElse(-1)
+    }
+    assert(JLine3.decodeInput(decoder, inputStream) == 228)
+  }
+  "emoji" should "be handled" in {
+    val bytes = new LinkedBlockingQueue[Int]
+    // laughing and crying emoji in utf8
+    Seq(0xF0, 0x9F, 0x98, 0x82).foreach(b => bytes.put(b))
+    val inputStream = new InputStream {
+      override def read(): Int = Option(bytes.poll).getOrElse(-1)
+    }
+    assert(JLine3.decodeInput(decoder, inputStream) == 128514)
+  }
+}