diff --git a/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py b/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py
index 6c481baa..25cd267b 100644
--- a/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py
+++ b/cloud_pipelines_backend/launchers/kubernetes_launchers.py
@@ -922,7 +922,8 @@ def get_refreshed(self) -> "LaunchedKubernetesContainer":
     def get_log(self) -> str:
         launcher = self._get_launcher()
         core_api_client = k8s_client_lib.CoreV1Api(api_client=launcher._api_client)
-        return core_api_client.read_namespaced_pod_log(
+        # _preload_content=False bypasses the kubernetes client's strict .decode('utf8'); see _get_log_by_pod_key.
+        response = core_api_client.read_namespaced_pod_log(
             name=self._pod_name,
             namespace=self._namespace,
             container=_MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME,
@@ -931,7 +932,17 @@ def get_log(self) -> str:
             # HTTP response body: {"kind":"Status","apiVersion":"v1","metadata":{},"status":"Failure","message":"PodLogOptions \"task-pod-xxxxx\" is invalid: stream: Forbidden: may not be specified","reason":"Invalid","details":{"name":"task-pod-xxxxx","kind":"PodLogOptions","causes":[{"reason":"FieldValueForbidden","message":"Forbidden: may not be specified","field":"stream"}]},"code":422}
             # stream="All",
             _request_timeout=launcher._request_timeout,
+            _preload_content=False,
         )
+        try:
+            log = response.data.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+            if "\N{REPLACEMENT CHARACTER}" in log:
+                _logger.warning(
+                    f"Pod log for {self._pod_name} contained invalid UTF-8 bytes; substituted replacement characters."
+                )
+            return log
+        finally:
+            response.release_conn()
 
     def upload_log(self):
         launcher = self._get_launcher()
@@ -1490,14 +1501,26 @@ def _get_log_by_pod_key(self, pod_name: str) -> str | None:
         launcher = self._get_launcher()
         core_api_client = k8s_client_lib.CoreV1Api(api_client=launcher._api_client)
         try:
-            log = core_api_client.read_namespaced_pod_log(
+            # _preload_content=False bypasses the kubernetes client's strict .decode('utf8'),
+            # which would raise UnicodeDecodeError on torn multi-byte chars in pod logs (e.g.
+            # tqdm block glyphs split across concurrent-writer chunk boundaries).
+            response = core_api_client.read_namespaced_pod_log(
                 name=pod_name,
                 namespace=self._namespace,
                 container=_MAIN_CONTAINER_NAME,
                 timestamps=True,
                 _request_timeout=launcher._request_timeout,
+                _preload_content=False,
             )
-            return log
+            try:
+                log = response.data.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
+                if "\N{REPLACEMENT CHARACTER}" in log:
+                    _logger.warning(
+                        f"Pod log for {pod_name} contained invalid UTF-8 bytes; substituted replacement characters."
+                    )
+                return log
+            finally:
+                response.release_conn()
         except kubernetes.client.exceptions.ApiException as ex:
             if ex.reason == "Bad Request":
                 # Kubernetes client raises kubernetes.client.exceptions.ApiException when Pod is still in PodInitializing phase