diff -r eb3cb6495f22 Lib/tarfile.py
--- a/Lib/tarfile.py	Tue Jan 21 21:13:25 2014 -0500
+++ b/Lib/tarfile.py	Wed Jan 22 12:39:33 2014 +0800
@@ -1844,6 +1844,8 @@
         """
         self._check()
 
+        import locale
+        stdout_encoding = locale.getpreferredencoding()
         for tarinfo in self:
             if verbose:
                 print(stat.filemode(tarinfo.mode), end=' ')
@@ -1857,13 +1859,29 @@
                 print("%d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d" \
                       % time.localtime(tarinfo.mtime)[:6], end=' ')
 
-            print(tarinfo.name + ("/" if tarinfo.isdir() else ""), end=' ')
+            tarinfo_dir = b"/" if tarinfo.isdir() else b""
+            try:
+                print(tarinfo.name + str(tarinfo_dir), end=' ')
+            except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                print(tarinfo.name.encode(stdout_encoding, errors='replace') +
+                      tarinfo_dir, end=' ')
 
             if verbose:
-                if tarinfo.issym():
-                    print("->", tarinfo.linkname, end=' ')
-                if tarinfo.islnk():
-                    print("link to", tarinfo.linkname, end=' ')
+                try:
+                    if tarinfo.issym():
+                        print("->", tarinfo.linkname, end=' ')
+                    if tarinfo.islnk():
+                        print("link to", tarinfo.linkname, end=' ')
+                except UnicodeEncodeError:
+                    if tarinfo.issym():
+                        print(b"->", tarinfo.linkname.encode(stdout_encoding,
+                                                             errors='replace'),
+                              end=' ')
+                    if tarinfo.islnk():
+                        print(b"link_to",
+                              tarinfo.linkname.encode(stdout_encoding,
+                                                      errors='replace'),
+                              end=' ')
             print()
 
     def add(self, name, arcname=None, recursive=True, exclude=None, *, filter=None):
diff -r eb3cb6495f22 Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py	Tue Jan 21 21:13:25 2014 -0500
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py	Wed Jan 22 12:39:33 2014 +0800
@@ -1824,6 +1824,16 @@
             out = self.tarfilecmd(opt, tmpname)
             self.assertEqual(out, expected)
 
+    def test_list_print_unencodable_characters(self):
+        for tar_name in testtarnames:
+            for opt in '-l', '--list':
+                out = self.tarfilecmd(opt, tar_name)
+                self.assertIn(b'ustar/umlauts-???????', out)
+                self.assertIn(b'misc/regtype-hpux-signed-chksum-???????', out)
+                self.assertIn(b'misc/regtype-old-v7-signed-chksum-???????', out)
+                self.assertIn(b'pax/bad-pax-???', out)
+                self.assertIn(b'pax/hdrcharset-???', out)
+
     def test_list_command_verbose(self):
         self.make_simple_tarfile(tmpname)
         with support.captured_stdout() as t: