diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py
index 799cdd5b55..57dcf3d93e 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py
@@ -650,6 +650,41 @@ class TestTranscript(unittest.TestCase):
         with self.assertRaises(NotFoundError):
             transcripts_utils.Transcript.asset(None, None, filename=transcripts_utils.NON_EXISTENT_TRANSCRIPT)
 
+    def test_latin1(self):
+        """
+        Test to make sure Latin-1 encoded transcripts work.
+        """
+        latin1_sjson_str = textwrap.dedent("""\
+            {
+                "start": [
+                    10500,
+                    15000
+                ],
+                "end": [
+                    13000,
+                    18000
+                ],
+                "text": [
+                    "û",
+                    "At the left we can see..."
+                ]
+            }
+        """)
+        latin1_sjson_bytes = latin1_sjson_str.encode('latin-1')
+
+        expected_result = textwrap.dedent("""\
+            0
+            00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:13,000
+            û
+
+            1
+            00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,000
+            At the left we can see...
+
+        """)
+        result = transcripts_utils.Transcript.convert(latin1_sjson_bytes, 'sjson', 'srt')
+        assert result == expected_result
+
 
 class TestSubsFilename(unittest.TestCase):
     """
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/video_module/transcripts_utils.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/video_module/transcripts_utils.py
index 77c7f50fae..7abe134de1 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/video_module/transcripts_utils.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/video_module/transcripts_utils.py
@@ -667,19 +667,27 @@ class Transcript:
                         error_handling=SubRipFile.ERROR_RAISE
                     )
                 except Error as ex:   # Base exception from pysrt
-                    raise TranscriptsGenerationException(str(ex))  # lint-amnesty, pylint: disable=raise-missing-from
+                    raise TranscriptsGenerationException(str(ex)) from ex
 
                 return json.dumps(generate_sjson_from_srt(srt_subs))
 
         if input_format == 'sjson':
+            # If the JSON file content is bytes, try UTF-8, then Latin-1
+            if isinstance(content, bytes):
+                try:
+                    content_str = content.decode('utf-8')
+                except UnicodeDecodeError:
+                    content_str = content.decode('latin-1')
+            else:
+                content_str = content
 
             if output_format == 'txt':
-                text = json.loads(content)['text']
+                text = json.loads(content_str)['text']
                 text_without_none = [line if line else '' for line in text]
                 return html.unescape("\n".join(text_without_none))
 
             elif output_format == 'srt':
-                return generate_srt_from_sjson(json.loads(content), speed=1.0)
+                return generate_srt_from_sjson(json.loads(content_str), speed=1.0)
 
     @staticmethod
     def asset(location, subs_id, lang='en', filename=None):