diff --git a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
index 86cc2c07b19..9640a8c2df1 100644
--- a/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
+++ b/codespell_lib/_codespell.py
@@ -627,7 +627,13 @@ def parse_file(filename, colors, summary, misspellings, exclude_lines,
         if not os.path.isfile(filename):
             return bad_count
 
-        text = is_text_file(filename)
+        try:
+            text = is_text_file(filename)
+        except (OSError, PermissionError) as e:
+            print("WARNING: %s: %s" % (e.strerror, filename),
+                  file=sys.stderr)
+            return bad_count
+
         if not text:
             if not options.quiet_level & QuietLevels.BINARY_FILE:
                 print("WARNING: Binary file: %s" % filename, file=sys.stderr)