diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
index 1cf764e23d..7cf2b12ba9 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs
@@ -2768,7 +2768,8 @@ pub fn parse_unit_value<'res>(
         return None;
     }
 
-    let value = transform(String::from_utf8_lossy(bytes).into());
+    // Bail if not UTF-8
+    let value = transform(str::from_utf8(bytes).ok()?.into());
 
     if let Some((unit, name, convert)) = unit_groups.iter().find(|x| value.ends_with(x.1)) {
         let lhs_len = value.len() - name.len();
diff --git a/crates/nu-parser/tests/test_parser.rs b/crates/nu-parser/tests/test_parser.rs
index 2267916322..b93762c865 100644
--- a/crates/nu-parser/tests/test_parser.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-parser/tests/test_parser.rs
@@ -292,6 +292,21 @@ pub fn parse_filesize() {
     assert_eq!(value.unit.item, Unit::Filesize(FilesizeUnit::B));
 }
 
+#[test]
+pub fn parse_non_utf8_fails() {
+    let engine_state = EngineState::new();
+    let mut working_set = StateWorkingSet::new(&engine_state);
+
+    // Panic when parsing units was triggered by non-UTF8 characters
+    // due to bad handling via `String::from_utf8_lossy`
+    //
+    // See https://github.com/nushell/nushell/pull/16355
+    let _block = parse(&mut working_set, None, b"0\xffB", true);
+
+    // Asserting on the exact error doesn't make as much sense as
+    assert!(!working_set.parse_errors.is_empty());
+}
+
 #[test]
 pub fn parse_cell_path() {
     let engine_state = EngineState::new();