diff --git a/src/delta.rs b/src/delta.rs
index 27b305122..5cda5266c 100644
--- a/src/delta.rs
+++ b/src/delta.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ use crate::handlers::hunk_header::ParsedHunkHeader;
 use crate::handlers::{self, merge_conflict};
 use crate::paint::Painter;
 use crate::style::DecorationStyle;
+use crate::utils;
 
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, PartialEq)]
 pub enum State {
@@ -181,10 +182,25 @@ impl<'a> StateMachine<'a> {
     }
 
     fn ingest_line(&mut self, raw_line_bytes: &[u8]) {
-        // TODO: retain raw_line as Cow
-        self.raw_line = String::from_utf8_lossy(raw_line_bytes).to_string();
+        match String::from_utf8(raw_line_bytes.to_vec()) {
+            Ok(utf8) => self.ingest_line_utf8(utf8),
+            Err(_) => {
+                let raw_line = String::from_utf8_lossy(raw_line_bytes);
+                let truncated_len = utils::round_char_boundary::floor_char_boundary(
+                    &raw_line,
+                    self.config.max_line_length,
+                );
+                self.raw_line = raw_line[..truncated_len].to_string();
+                self.line = self.raw_line.clone();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    fn ingest_line_utf8(&mut self, raw_line: String) {
+        self.raw_line = raw_line;
         // When a file has \r\n line endings, git sometimes adds ANSI escape sequences between the
         // \r and \n, in which case byte_lines does not remove the \r. Remove it now.
+        // TODO: Limit the number of characters we examine when looking for the \r?
         if let Some(cr_index) = self.raw_line.rfind('\r') {
             if ansi::strip_ansi_codes(&self.raw_line[cr_index + 1..]).is_empty() {
                 self.raw_line = format!(
diff --git a/src/utils/mod.rs b/src/utils/mod.rs
index 20adef24a..9cd8cfaae 100644
--- a/src/utils/mod.rs
+++ b/src/utils/mod.rs
@@ -3,4 +3,5 @@ pub mod bat;
 pub mod path;
 pub mod process;
 pub mod regex_replacement;
+pub mod round_char_boundary;
 pub mod syntect;
diff --git a/src/utils/round_char_boundary.rs b/src/utils/round_char_boundary.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c000134d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/utils/round_char_boundary.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+// Taken from https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/pull/86497
+// TODO: Remove when this is in the version of the Rust standard library that delta is building
+// against.
+
+#[inline]
+const fn is_utf8_char_boundary(b: u8) -> bool {
+    // This is bit magic equivalent to: b < 128 || b >= 192
+    (b as i8) >= -0x40
+}
+
+#[inline]
+pub fn floor_char_boundary(s: &str, index: usize) -> usize {
+    if index >= s.len() {
+        s.len()
+    } else {
+        let lower_bound = index.saturating_sub(3);
+        let new_index = s.as_bytes()[lower_bound..=index]
+            .iter()
+            .rposition(|b| is_utf8_char_boundary(*b));
+
+        // SAFETY: we know that the character boundary will be within four bytes
+        unsafe { lower_bound + new_index.unwrap_unchecked() }
+    }
+}