diff --git a/sanic/testing.py b/sanic/testing.py
index 4fde428c..1cad6a7b 100644
--- a/sanic/testing.py
+++ b/sanic/testing.py
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ class SanicTestClient:
                 cookies=cookies, connector=conn) as session:
             async with getattr(
                     session, method.lower())(url, *args, **kwargs) as response:
-                response.text = await response.text()
+                try:
+                    response.text = await response.text()
+                except UnicodeDecodeError as e:
+                    response.text = None
                 response.body = await response.read()
                 return response
 
diff --git a/tests/static/python.png b/tests/static/python.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..52fda109
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/static/python.png differ
diff --git a/tests/test_static.py b/tests/test_static.py
index 783a56c7..091d63a4 100644
--- a/tests/test_static.py
+++ b/tests/test_static.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ def get_file_content(static_file_directory, file_name):
         return file.read()
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize('file_name', ['test.file', 'decode me.txt'])
+@pytest.mark.parametrize('file_name', ['test.file', 'decode me.txt', 'python.png'])
 def test_static_file(static_file_directory, file_name):
     app = Sanic('test_static')
     app.static(