diff --git a/src/multilspy/multilspy_utils.py b/src/multilspy/multilspy_utils.py
index f7365b5f..7c46d37d 100644
--- a/src/multilspy/multilspy_utils.py
+++ b/src/multilspy/multilspy_utils.py
@@ -117,7 +117,10 @@ class FileUtils:
         """
         Reads the file at the given path and returns the contents as a string.
         """
-        encodings = ["utf-8-sig", "utf-16"]
+        if not os.path.exists(file_path):
+            logger.log(f"File read '{file_path}' failed: File does not exist.", logging.ERROR)
+            raise MultilspyException(f"File read '{file_path}' failed: File does not exist.")
+        encodings = ["utf-8-sig", "utf-16", "utf-8", "latin-1"]
         try:
             for encoding in encodings:
                 try:
@@ -125,6 +128,9 @@ class FileUtils:
                         return inp_file.read()
                 except UnicodeError:
                     continue
+            # Try system default encoding as a last resort
+            with open(file_path, "r") as inp_file:
+                return inp_file.read()
         except Exception as exc:
             logger.log(f"File read '{file_path}' failed: {exc}", logging.ERROR)
             raise MultilspyException("File read failed.") from None