diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index dc1cc387..e67944c3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- **uplc**: trim whitespace when loading files with hex strings to avoid confusing errors #720
 - **uplc**: uplc `Constant::Data` formatting
 - **aiken-lang**: empty records properly parse as record sugar
 - **aiken-project**: when a module name has a hyphen we should behave like rust and force an underscore
diff --git a/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/decode.rs b/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/decode.rs
index ac8036dc..c6eb74d3 100644
--- a/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/decode.rs
+++ b/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/decode.rs
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ pub fn exec(
     let bytes = if hex {
         let hex_bytes = std::fs::read_to_string(&input).into_diagnostic()?;
 
-        hex::decode(hex_bytes).into_diagnostic()?
+        hex::decode(hex_bytes.trim()).into_diagnostic()?
     } else {
         std::fs::read(&input).into_diagnostic()?
     };
diff --git a/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/eval.rs b/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/eval.rs
index cdddd935..5b70d166 100644
--- a/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/eval.rs
+++ b/crates/aiken/src/cmd/uplc/eval.rs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ pub fn exec(
     let mut program = if cbor {
         let cbor_hex = std::fs::read_to_string(&script).into_diagnostic()?;
 
-        let raw_cbor = hex::decode(cbor_hex).into_diagnostic()?;
+        let raw_cbor = hex::decode(cbor_hex.trim()).into_diagnostic()?;
 
         let prog = Program::<FakeNamedDeBruijn>::from_cbor(&raw_cbor, &mut Vec::new())
             .into_diagnostic()?;