diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index a5f2bf8..7734cd4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -15,11 +15,11 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        python-version: ["3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
+        python-version: ["3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
         os: ["ubuntu-latest", "windows-latest", "macos-latest"]
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
     steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
     - name: Set up Python ${{ matrix.python-version }}
       uses: actions/setup-python@v4
       with:
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ jobs:
         installer-parallel: true
     - name: Load cached venv
       id: cached-poetry-venv
-      uses: actions/cache@v3
+      uses: actions/cache@v4
       with:
         path: .venv
         key: venv-${{ matrix.python-version }}-${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('poetry.lock') }}
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jobs:
   coverage:
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: [ "3.8" ]
+        python-version: [ "3.12" ]
     runs-on: "ubuntu-latest"
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ jobs:
           installer-parallel: true
       - name: Load cached venv
         id: cached-poetry-venv
-        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
         with:
           path: .venv
           key: venv-${{ matrix.python-version }}-{{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('poetry.lock') }}
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ jobs:
   typecheck:
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        python-version: [ "3.8" ]
+        python-version: [ "3.12" ]
     runs-on: "ubuntu-latest"
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
diff --git a/codestripper/cli.py b/codestripper/cli.py
index 537b421..a9873c5 100644
--- a/codestripper/cli.py
+++ b/codestripper/cli.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 from codestripper.code_stripper import strip_files
 from codestripper.utils import FileUtils, set_logger_level, get_working_directory
+from codestripper.utils.enums import UnexpectedInputOptions
 
 
 def add_commandline_arguments(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
@@ -26,6 +27,10 @@ def add_commandline_arguments(parser: argparse.ArgumentParser) -> None:
                         help="set the working directory for include/exclude", default=os.getcwd())
     parser.add_argument("-e", "--fail-on-error", action="store_false",
                         help="Fail if an error occurs during code stripping")
+    parser.add_argument("-b", "--binary", choices=list(UnexpectedInputOptions), default=UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL,
+                        action="store", help="What to do if binary file is matched")
+    parser.add_argument("-u", "--unknown", choices=list(UnexpectedInputOptions), default=UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL,
+                        action="store", help="What to do if a file with unknown extension is matched")
 
 
 def main() -> None:
diff --git a/codestripper/code_stripper.py b/codestripper/code_stripper.py
index 7cf5a54..a48a6b4 100644
--- a/codestripper/code_stripper.py
+++ b/codestripper/code_stripper.py
@@ -10,12 +10,14 @@
 from codestripper.tokenizer import Tokenizer
 from codestripper.utils import get_working_directory
 from codestripper.utils.comments import comments_mapping, Comment
+from codestripper.utils.enums import UnexpectedInputOptions
 
 logger = logging.getLogger("codestripper")
 
 
 def strip_files(files: Iterable[str], working_directory: Union[str, None] = None, * ,comments: Optional[List[str]] = None,
-                output: Union[Path, str] = "out", dry_run: bool = False, fail_on_error: bool = False) -> List[str]:
+                output: Union[Path, str] = "out", dry_run: bool = False, fail_on_error: bool = False,
+                binary: UnexpectedInputOptions = UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL, unknown_extension: UnexpectedInputOptions = UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL) -> List[str]:
 
     if comments is not None:
         for comment in comments:
@@ -32,18 +34,41 @@ def strip_files(files: Iterable[str], working_directory: Union[str, None] = None
     stripped_files: List[str] = []
     has_errors: bool = False
     for file in files:
-        with open(os.path.join(cwd, file), 'r') as handle:
-            content = handle.read()
+        try:
+            with open(os.path.join(cwd, file), 'r') as handle:
+                content = handle.read()
+        except UnicodeDecodeError as e:
+            if binary == UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL:
+                raise e
+            elif binary == UnexpectedInputOptions.IGNORE:
+                logger.info(f"Ignoring binary file: '{file}'")
+                continue
+            else:
+                path = os.path.join(out, file)
+                os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(path), exist_ok=True)
+                shutil.copy2(os.path.join(cwd, file), path)
+                stripped_files.append(file)
+                continue
         if content is not None:
+            stripped = ""
             try:
                 _, file_extension = os.path.splitext(file)
                 file_extension = file_extension.lower()
                 if not file_extension in comments_mapping:
-                    logger.error(f"Unknown extension: '{file_extension}', "
+                    if unknown_extension == UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL:
+                        logger.error(f"Unknown extension: '{file_extension}', "
                                  f"please specify which comment to use for this file extension.")
-                    continue
-                com = comments_mapping[file_extension]
-                stripped = CodeStripper(content, com).strip()
+                        has_errors = True
+                        break
+                    elif unknown_extension == UnexpectedInputOptions.IGNORE:
+                        logger.info(f"Unknown extension: '{file_extension}' ignored")
+                        continue
+                    else:
+                        # Keep the complete content
+                        stripped = content
+                else:
+                    com = comments_mapping[file_extension]
+                    stripped = CodeStripper(content, com).strip()
             except IgnoreFileError:
                 logger.info(f"File '{file}' is ignored, because of ignore tag")
                 continue
diff --git a/codestripper/utils/enums.py b/codestripper/utils/enums.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0a9a69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/codestripper/utils/enums.py
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+import enum
+
+
+class UnexpectedInputOptions(enum.Enum):
+    FAIL = "fail",
+    IGNORE = "ignore",
+    INCLUDE = "include"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test_codestripper.py b/tests/test_codestripper.py
index ea9a64d..323b4f9 100644
--- a/tests/test_codestripper.py
+++ b/tests/test_codestripper.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import logging
 import os.path
 import re
+import shutil
 from pathlib import Path
 
 import pytest
@@ -8,10 +9,33 @@
 
 from codestripper.code_stripper import strip_files
 from codestripper.utils import FileUtils
+from codestripper.utils.enums import UnexpectedInputOptions
 
 test_project_dir = os.path.join(Path(__file__).parent.absolute())
 
 
+def test_project_with_unknown_extension_fail(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.chdir(test_project_dir)
+    files = FileUtils(["**/*.java", "pom.xml", "**/*.test"], working_directory="testproject").get_matching_files()
+
+    with pytest.raises(Exception):
+        strip_files(files, "testproject", output="out",unknown_extension=UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL, fail_on_error=True)
+
+
+def test_project_with_unknown_extension_ignore(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.chdir(test_project_dir)
+    files = FileUtils(["**/*.java", "pom.xml", "test.test"], working_directory="testproject").get_matching_files()
+    stripped = strip_files(files, "testproject", output="out", unknown_extension=UnexpectedInputOptions.IGNORE)
+    assert "test.test" not in stripped
+
+
+def test_project_with_unknown_extension_include(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.chdir(test_project_dir)
+    files = FileUtils(["**/*.java", "pom.xml", "test.test"], working_directory="testproject").get_matching_files()
+    stripped = strip_files(files, "testproject", output="out", unknown_extension=UnexpectedInputOptions.INCLUDE)
+    assert "test.test" in stripped
+
+
 def test_project(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, caplog: LogCaptureFixture):
     monkeypatch.chdir(test_project_dir)
     with caplog.at_level(logging.INFO, logger='codestripper'):
@@ -132,3 +156,30 @@ def test_non_fail_on_error(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, caplog: pytest.LogCa
         strip_files(files, "files", output="out", fail_on_error=False)
         errors = [rec.message for rec in caplog.records]
         assert len(errors) == 4
+
+
+def test_project_with_binary_fail(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.chdir(test_project_dir)
+    shutil.rmtree("out", ignore_errors=True)
+    files = FileUtils(["**/*.java", "pom.xml", "test.jpg"], working_directory="testproject").get_matching_files()
+
+    with pytest.raises(Exception):
+        strip_files(files, "testproject", output="out",binary=UnexpectedInputOptions.FAIL, fail_on_error=True)
+
+
+def test_project_with_binary_ignore(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.chdir(test_project_dir)
+    shutil.rmtree("out", ignore_errors=True)
+    files = FileUtils(["**/*.java", "pom.xml", "test.jpg"], working_directory="testproject").get_matching_files()
+
+    stripped = strip_files(files, "testproject", output="out",binary=UnexpectedInputOptions.IGNORE)
+    assert "test.jpg" not in stripped
+
+
+def test_project_with_binary_include(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch):
+    monkeypatch.chdir(test_project_dir)
+    shutil.rmtree("out", ignore_errors=True)
+    files = FileUtils(["**/*.java", "pom.xml", "test.jpg"], working_directory="testproject").get_matching_files()
+
+    stripped = strip_files(files, "testproject", output="out",binary=UnexpectedInputOptions.INCLUDE)
+    assert "test.jpg" in stripped
diff --git a/tests/testproject/test.jpg b/tests/testproject/test.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e58c685
Binary files /dev/null and b/tests/testproject/test.jpg differ