diff -r e0433a73c6c7 dcpp/FavoriteManager.cpp
--- a/dcpp/FavoriteManager.cpp	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/dcpp/FavoriteManager.cpp	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -471,7 +471,7 @@
 	try {
 		SimpleXML xml;
 		Util::migrate(getConfigFile());
-		xml.fromXML(File(getConfigFile(), File::READ, File::OPEN).read());
+		xml.fromXML(File(getConfigFile(), File::READ, File::OPEN).read(), SimpleXMLReader::FLAG_REPLACE_INVALID_UTF8);
 
 		if(xml.findChild("Favorites")) {
 			xml.stepIn();
diff -r e0433a73c6c7 dcpp/SimpleXML.cpp
--- a/dcpp/SimpleXML.cpp	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/dcpp/SimpleXML.cpp	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -182,14 +182,14 @@
 	(*currentChild)->attribs.emplace_back(aName, aData);
 }
 
-void SimpleXML::fromXML(const string& aXML) {
+void SimpleXML::fromXML(const string& aXML, int aFlags) {
 	if(!root.children.empty()) {
 		delete root.children[0];
 		root.children.clear();
 	}
 
 	TagReader t(&root);
-	SimpleXMLReader(&t).parse(aXML);
+	SimpleXMLReader(&t, aFlags).parse(aXML);
 
 	if(root.children.size() != 1) {
 		throw SimpleXMLException("Invalid XML file, missing or multiple root tags");
diff -r e0433a73c6c7 dcpp/SimpleXML.h
--- a/dcpp/SimpleXML.h	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/dcpp/SimpleXML.h	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@
 		return (!tmp.empty()) && tmp[0] == '1';
 	}
 
-	void fromXML(const string& aXML);
+	void fromXML(const string& aXML, int aFlags = 0);
 	string toXML();
 	void toXML(OutputStream* f) { if(!root.children.empty()) root.children[0]->toXML(0, f); }
 
diff -r e0433a73c6c7 dcpp/SimpleXMLReader.cpp
--- a/dcpp/SimpleXMLReader.cpp	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/dcpp/SimpleXMLReader.cpp	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -67,8 +67,8 @@
 		;
 }
 
-SimpleXMLReader::SimpleXMLReader(SimpleXMLReader::CallBack* callback) :
-	bufPos(0), pos(0), cb(callback), state(STATE_START)
+SimpleXMLReader::SimpleXMLReader(SimpleXMLReader::CallBack* callback, int aFlags) :
+	bufPos(0), pos(0), cb(callback), state(STATE_START), flags(aFlags)
 {
 	elements.reserve(64);
 	attribs.reserve(16);
@@ -748,14 +748,16 @@
 }
 
 void SimpleXMLReader::decodeString(string& str_) {
-	auto isUtf8 = encoding.empty() || compare(encoding, Text::utf8) == 0;
-
-	if (isUtf8) {
-		if (!Text::validateUtf8(str_)) {
-			error("UTF-8 validation failed");
-		}
-	} else {
-		str_ = Text::toUtf8(str_, encoding);
+	auto isUtf8 = encoding.empty() || compare(encoding, Text::utf8) == 0;
+
+	if (!isUtf8) {
+		str_ = Text::toUtf8(str_, encoding);
+	} else if (!Text::validateUtf8(str_)) {
+		if (flags & FLAG_REPLACE_INVALID_UTF8) {
+			str_ = Text::sanitizeUtf8(str_);
+		} else {
+			error("Malformed UTF-8 data");
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff -r e0433a73c6c7 dcpp/SimpleXMLReader.h
--- a/dcpp/SimpleXMLReader.h	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/dcpp/SimpleXMLReader.h	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -52,7 +52,12 @@
 		static const std::string& getAttrib(StringPairList& attribs, const std::string& name, size_t hint);
 	};
 
-	SimpleXMLReader(CallBack* callback);
+	enum Flags {
+		// Replace invalid UTF-8 data with placeholder characters
+		FLAG_REPLACE_INVALID_UTF8 = 0x01,
+	};
+
+	SimpleXMLReader(CallBack* callback, int aFlags = 0);
 	virtual ~SimpleXMLReader() { }
 
 	void parse(InputStream& is, size_t maxSize = 0);
@@ -191,6 +196,8 @@
 	bool error(const char* message);
 
 	void decodeString(string& str_);
+
+	const int flags;
 };
 
 
diff -r e0433a73c6c7 dcpp/Text.cpp
--- a/dcpp/Text.cpp	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/dcpp/Text.cpp	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -203,27 +203,13 @@
 	if(str.empty()) {
 		return Util::emptyString;
 	}
-#ifdef _WIN32
-	int size = 0;
-	tgt.resize( str.length() * 2 );
 
-	while( ( size = WideCharToMultiByte(CP_UTF8, 0, str.c_str(), str.length(), &tgt[0], tgt.length(), NULL, NULL) ) == 0 ){
-		if( GetLastError() == ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER )
-			tgt.resize( tgt.size() * 2 );
-		else
-			break;
-	}
-	
-	tgt.resize( size );
-	return tgt;
-#else	
 	string::size_type n = str.length();
 	tgt.clear();
 	for(string::size_type i = 0; i < n; ++i) {
 		wcToUtf8(str[i], tgt);
 	}
 	return tgt;
-#endif
 }
 
 const string& wideToAcp(const wstring& str, string& tmp, const string& toCharset) noexcept {
@@ -269,26 +255,16 @@
 	return true;
 }
 
+string sanitizeUtf8(const string& str) noexcept {
+	return wideToUtf8(utf8ToWide(str));
+}
+
 const string& utf8ToAcp(const string& str, string& tmp, const string& toCharset) noexcept {
 	wstring wtmp;
 	return wideToAcp(utf8ToWide(str, wtmp), tmp, toCharset);
 }
 
 const wstring& utf8ToWide(const string& str, wstring& tgt) noexcept {
-#ifdef _WIN32
-	int size = 0;
-	tgt.resize( str.length()+1 );
-	while( ( size = MultiByteToWideChar(CP_UTF8, 0, str.c_str(), str.length(), &tgt[0], (int)tgt.length()) ) == 0 ){
-		if( GetLastError() == ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER ) {
-			tgt.resize( tgt.size()*2 );
-		} else {
-			break;
-		}
-
-	}
-	tgt.resize( size );
-	return tgt;
-#else
 	tgt.reserve(str.length());
 	string::size_type n = str.length();
 	for(string::size_type i = 0; i < n; ) {
@@ -303,7 +279,6 @@
 		}
 	}
 	return tgt;
-#endif
 }
 
 wchar_t toLower(wchar_t c) noexcept {
diff -r e0433a73c6c7 dcpp/Text.h
--- a/dcpp/Text.h	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/dcpp/Text.h	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@
 	int utf8ToWc(const char* str, wchar_t& c);
 	void wcToUtf8(wchar_t c, string& str);
 
+	string sanitizeUtf8(const string& str) noexcept;
 #ifdef UNICODE
 	inline const tstring& toT(const string& str, tstring& tmp) noexcept { return utf8ToWide(str, tmp); }
 	inline tstring toT(const string& str) noexcept { return utf8ToWide(str); }
diff -r e0433a73c6c7 test/testxml.cpp
--- a/test/testxml.cpp	Sun Dec 18 23:39:05 2016 +0100
+++ b/test/testxml.cpp	Thu Dec 22 13:45:51 2016 +0200
@@ -120,3 +120,17 @@
 	}
 }
 
+TEST(testxml, test_utf_validation)
+{
+	const char xml[] = "<Hub Name='\xc3Name'/>";
+
+	Collector collector;
+	SimpleXMLReader reader(&collector, SimpleXMLReader::FLAG_REPLACE_INVALID_UTF8);
+
+	for (size_t i = 0, iend = sizeof(xml); i < iend; ++i) {
+		reader.parse(xml + i, 1);
+	}
+
+	ASSERT_EQ(collector.attribValues["_Name"], 1);
+}
+