'utf-8' codec can't decode byte 0xda in position 184: invalid continuation byte

[snippsat]

This has taken me some time and I haven't found a way to figure it out. I tried this:

It also install chardetect that can be command line(cmd) or cmder as i use.

C:\code
λ chardetect myfile.txt
myfile.txt: ascii with confidence 1.0

This excerpt does raise the exact same exception.

It should not if the file is saved as utf-8.

# copy of text in post and save as utf-8
λ chardetect test.srt
test.srt: utf-8 with confidence 0.505

Test.

λ python -V
Python 3.7.3

# Code used
E:\div_code
λ cat uni_music.py
with open('test.srt', encoding='utf-8') as f:
    file_list = [i.strip() for i in f]

# Run code interactively 
E:\div_code
λ ptpython -i uni_music.py
>>> from pprint import pprint

>>> pprint(file_list)
['1',
 '00:00:00,066 --> 00:00:01,888',
 'HOLA, SOY <i>JACK RICO,</i>',
 '',
 '2',
 '00:00:01,888 --> 00:00:04,444',
 '<i>Y ESTO ES </i>"TALLER',
 'DEL CONSUMIDOR".',
 '',
 '3',
 '00:00:04,444 --> 00:00:05,530',
 '<i>[MÚSICA]</i>']

# Last element,all is correct
>>> file_list[-1]
'<i>[MÚSICA]</i>'

How can I pass the raw data in binary format of a read file without "altering" the encoding

you use 'rb',but then still need to decode or the Unicode will look like this M\xc3\x9aSICA.

with open('test.srt', 'rb') as f:
    file_list = [i.strip() for i in f]

Output:
>>> file_list
[b'1',
 b'00:00:00,066 --> 00:00:01,888',
 b'HOLA, SOY <i>JACK RICO,</i>',
 b'',
 b'2',
 b'00:00:01,888 --> 00:00:04,444',
 b'<i>Y ESTO ES </i>"TALLER',
 b'DEL CONSUMIDOR".',
 b'',
 b'3',
 b'00:00:04,444 --> 00:00:05,530',
 b'<i>[M\xc3\x9aSICA]</i>']

>>> file_list[-1]
b'<i>[M\xc3\x9aSICA]</i>'

>>> file_list[-1].decode() # Same as decode('utf-8') this is default
'<i>[MÚSICA]</i>'