diff --git a/src/utils/markdown.rs b/src/utils/markdown.rs
index c72528e..511afda 100644
--- a/src/utils/markdown.rs
+++ b/src/utils/markdown.rs
@@ -186,14 +186,15 @@ fn fix_images_and_integration(
                         .unwrap()
                         .to_string();
 
-                    if let Ok(file) = fs::read_to_string(&img_path) {
+                    if let Ok(file_contents) = fs::read(&img_path) {
                         let mime = mime_guess::from_path(&img_path).first_or_octet_stream();
                         if recursive && mime == "text/markdown" {
+                            let file_str = String::from_utf8_lossy(&file_contents).into_owned();
                             let mut options = get_options(Some(path.clone()), metadata_type);
                             options.extension.footnotes = false;
                             let data = read_md(
                                 &path.from(&img_path),
-                                &file,
+                                &file_str,
                                 metadata_type,
                                 Some(options),
                                 false,
@@ -203,7 +204,7 @@ fn fix_images_and_integration(
                             // Store the metadata for later merging
                             additional_metadata.push(data.metadata);
                         } else {
-                            let image = general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(file);
+                            let image = general_purpose::STANDARD.encode(&file_contents);
                             el.set_attribute("src", &format!("data:{mime};base64,{image}"))
                                 .unwrap();
                         }