diff --git a/src/hardcopy.c b/src/hardcopy.c
index 91f62c3..420ceb7 100644
--- a/src/hardcopy.c
+++ b/src/hardcopy.c
@@ -3372,8 +3372,9 @@
 }
 
     int
-mch_print_text_out(char_u *p, int len UNUSED)
+mch_print_text_out(char_u *textp, int len UNUSED)
 {
+    char_u	*p = textp;
     int		need_break;
     char_u	ch;
     char_u      ch_buff[8];
@@ -3508,8 +3509,15 @@
 
 #ifdef FEAT_MBYTE
     if (prt_do_conv)
+    {
 	/* Convert from multi-byte to 8-bit encoding */
 	tofree = p = string_convert(&prt_conv, p, &len);
+	if (p == NULL)
+	{
+	    p = (char_u *)"";
+	    len = 0;
+	}
+    }
 
     if (prt_out_mbyte)
     {
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_hardcopy.vim b/src/testdir/test_hardcopy.vim
index f630556..ced13b1 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_hardcopy.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_hardcopy.vim
@@ -63,12 +63,27 @@
 endfunc
 
 func Test_fname_with_spaces()
-  if has('postscript')
-    split t\ e\ s\ t.txt
-    call setline(1, ['just', 'some', 'text'])
-    hardcopy > %.ps
-    call assert_true(filereadable('t e s t.txt.ps'))
-    call delete('t e s t.txt.ps')
-    bwipe!
+  if !has('postscript')
+    return
   endif
+  split t\ e\ s\ t.txt
+  call setline(1, ['just', 'some', 'text'])
+  hardcopy > %.ps
+  call assert_true(filereadable('t e s t.txt.ps'))
+  call delete('t e s t.txt.ps')
+  bwipe!
 endfunc
+
+func Test_illegal_byte()
+  if !has('postscript') || &enc != 'utf-8'
+    return
+  endif
+  new
+  " conversion of 0xff will fail, this used to cause a crash
+  call setline(1, "\xff")
+  hardcopy >Xpstest
+
+  bwipe!
+  call delete('Xpstest')
+endfunc
+
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 8d58649..bd8efaf 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -762,6 +762,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    56,
+/**/
     55,
 /**/
     54,