diff --git a/lib/jekyll/regenerator.rb b/lib/jekyll/regenerator.rb
index 8ddfa269..c452c54d 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/regenerator.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/regenerator.rb
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ module Jekyll
     #
     # Returns nothing.
     def write_metadata
-      File.open(metadata_file, 'w') do |f|
+      File.open(metadata_file, 'wb') do |f|
         f.write(Marshal.dump(metadata))
       end
     end
@@ -164,6 +164,9 @@ module Jekyll
           Marshal.load(content)
         rescue TypeError
           SafeYAML.load(content)
+        rescue ArgumentError => e
+          Jekyll.logger.warn("Failed to load #{metadata_file}: #{e}")
+          {}
         end
       else
         {}
diff --git a/test/test_regenerator.rb b/test/test_regenerator.rb
index 060fc524..3b45fee6 100644
--- a/test/test_regenerator.rb
+++ b/test/test_regenerator.rb
@@ -144,6 +144,16 @@ class TestRegenerator < JekyllUnitTest
       assert_equal File.mtime(@path), @regenerator.metadata[@path]["mtime"]
     end
 
+    should "not crash when reading corrupted marshal file" do
+      metadata_file = source_dir(".jekyll-metadata")
+      File.open(metadata_file, "w") do |file|
+        file.puts Marshal.dump({ foo: 'bar' })[0,5]
+      end
+
+      @regenerator = Regenerator.new(@site)
+      assert_equal({}, @regenerator.metadata)
+    end
+
     # Methods
 
     should "be able to add a path to the metadata" do