diff --git a/packages/angular_devkit/schematics/src/tree/host-tree.ts b/packages/angular_devkit/schematics/src/tree/host-tree.ts
index c37d9d11027d..8c4b012d401d 100644
--- a/packages/angular_devkit/schematics/src/tree/host-tree.ts
+++ b/packages/angular_devkit/schematics/src/tree/host-tree.ts
@@ -304,7 +304,12 @@ export class HostTree implements Tree {
       // With the `fatal` option enabled, invalid data will throw a TypeError
       return decoder.decode(data);
     } catch (e) {
-      if (e instanceof TypeError) {
+      // The second part should not be needed. But Jest does not support instanceof correctly.
+      // See: https://github.com/jestjs/jest/issues/2549
+      if (
+        e instanceof TypeError ||
+        (e as NodeJS.ErrnoException).code === 'ERR_ENCODING_INVALID_ENCODED_DATA'
+      ) {
         throw new Error(`Failed to decode "${path}" as UTF-8 text.`);
       }
       throw e;