diff --git a/src/includes/class.lang.php b/src/includes/class.lang.php
index 65ee328..04fc370 100644
--- a/src/includes/class.lang.php
+++ b/src/includes/class.lang.php
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ class Lang
     {
         $this->code = $code;
         $json = json_decode($jsonString, true);
+        if ($json === null) {
+			$json = array();
+		}
 
         //load default language
         if ( $code != $this->default ) {
@@ -78,6 +81,9 @@ class Lang
         }
         $defStr = file_get_contents($this->langDir(). "{$this->default}.json");
         $this->strings = json_decode($defStr, true);
+        if ($this->strings === null) {
+			die("Invalid JSON in default language file (". htmlspecialchars($this->default). ".json)");
+		}
     }
 
     function get($key)
diff --git a/src/settings.php b/src/settings.php
index a5c43df..6214270 100644
--- a/src/settings.php
+++ b/src/settings.php
@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ function selectOptionsA($a, $key, $default=null)
     $s = '';
     if($default !== null && !isset($a[$key])) $key = $default;
     foreach($a as $k=>$v) {
+        if (!is_array($v)) {
+			$v = array('name' => $k);
+		}
         $s .= '<option value="'.htmlspecialchars($k).'" '.($k===$key?'selected="selected"':'').
             (isset($v['title']) ? ' title="'.htmlspecialchars($v['title']).'"' : '').
             '>'.htmlspecialchars($v['name']).'</option>';
@@ -141,7 +144,7 @@ header('Content-type:text/html; charset=utf-8');
     if (isset($_GET['json'])) {
         $j = Config::requestDefaultDomain();
         if ($j['password'] != '') $j['password'] = "<not empty>";
-        $j = json_encode($j, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_PRETTY_PRINT);
+        $j = json_encode($j, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE | JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_PRETTY_PRINT | JSON_INVALID_UTF8_SUBSTITUTE);
 ?>
 <div class="mtt-settings-table">
   <div class="tr">
@@ -269,4 +272,4 @@ header('Content-type:text/html; charset=utf-8');
 
 </div>
 
-</form>
\ No newline at end of file
+</form>