diff --git a/python/dolma/tokenizer/tokenizer.py b/python/dolma/tokenizer/tokenizer.py
index 4a7d68c1..04017cdc 100644
--- a/python/dolma/tokenizer/tokenizer.py
+++ b/python/dolma/tokenizer/tokenizer.py
@@ -367,23 +367,39 @@ def tokenize_file(
     tokenizer = make_tokenizer(tokenizer_name_or_path, **tokenizer_kwargs)
     dtype = deepcopy(tokenizer.dtype)
     decoder = msgspec.json.Decoder(InputSpec)
+    force_refresh = False
+
     with smart_open.open(path, mode="rt") as input_stream:
         for i, line in enumerate(input_stream, start=1):
             try:
-                row = decoder.decode(line)
-                if text := row.text.strip():
-                    # skip empty docs
-                    tokens = tokenizer.encode(text, add_special_tokens=True)
-                    if refresh_tokenizer_every:
-                        # extra copy to prevent memory leaks
-                        tokens = np.array(tokens, dtype=dtype)
-                    yield TokenizerOutput.from_tokens(id=row.id, src=path, loc=i, tokens=tokens)  # pyright: ignore
+                try:
+                    row = decoder.decode(line)
+                    if not (text := row.text.strip()):
+                        # skip empty docs
+                        continue
 
-                if refresh_tokenizer_every > 0 and i % refresh_tokenizer_every == 0:
+                    # the actual tokenization happens here
+                    tokens = tokenizer.encode(text, add_special_tokens=True)
+                except Exception:
+                    # in case of failure, we log the error and continue
+                    # We refresh the tokenizer to prevent memory leaks from affecting the rest of the processing
+                    logger.warning("Error tokenizing %s:%d", path, i)
+                    force_refresh = True
+                    continue
+
+                if refresh_tokenizer_every:
+                    # extra copy to prevent memory leaks
+                    tokens = np.array(tokens, dtype=dtype)
+                yield TokenizerOutput.from_tokens(id=row.id, src=path, loc=i, tokens=tokens)  # pyright: ignore
+
+                if (refresh_tokenizer_every > 0 and i % refresh_tokenizer_every == 0) or force_refresh:
                     # to prevent memory leaks, we refresh the tokenizer every so often
                     del tokenizer
                     gc.collect()
                     tokenizer = make_tokenizer(tokenizer_name_or_path, **tokenizer_kwargs)
 
+                    # we reset the flag after refreshing the tokenizer
+                    force_refresh = False
+
             except Exception as ex:
                 logger.error("Error processing %s:%d", path, i, exc_info=ex)