diff --git a/src/octoprint/util/commandline.py b/src/octoprint/util/commandline.py
index 1b38de89..a074d466 100644
--- a/src/octoprint/util/commandline.py
+++ b/src/octoprint/util/commandline.py
@@ -8,6 +8,39 @@ __copyright__ = "Copyright (C) 2015 The OctoPrint Project - Released under terms
 
 import sarge
 import logging
+import re
+
+
+# These regexes are based on the colorama package
+# Author: Jonathan Hartley
+# License: BSD-3 (https://github.com/tartley/colorama/blob/master/LICENSE.txt)
+# Website: https://github.com/tartley/colorama/
+_ANSI_CSI_PATTERN = "\001?\033\[(\??(?:\d|;)*)([a-zA-Z])\002?"  # Control Sequence Introducer
+_ANSI_OSC_PATTERN = "\001?\033\]((?:.|;)*?)(\x07)\002?"         # Operating System Command
+_ANSI_REGEX = re.compile("|".join([_ANSI_CSI_PATTERN,
+                                   _ANSI_OSC_PATTERN]))
+
+
+def clean_ansi(line):
+	"""
+	Removes ANSI control codes from ``line``.
+
+	Parameters:
+	    line (str or unicode): the line to process
+
+	Returns:
+	    (str or unicode) The line without any ANSI control codes
+
+	Example::
+
+	    >>> text = "Some text with some \x1b[31mred words\x1b[39m in it"
+	    >>> clean_ansi(text)
+	    'Some text with some red words in it'
+	    >>> text = "We \x1b[?25lhide the cursor here and then \x1b[?25hshow it again here"
+	    >>> clean_ansi(text)
+	    'We hide the cursor here and then show it again here'
+	"""
+	return _ANSI_REGEX.sub("", line)
 
 
 class CommandlineError(Exception):
@@ -53,11 +86,13 @@ class CommandlineCaller(object):
 			while p.returncode is None:
 				line = p.stderr.readline(timeout=0.5)
 				if line:
+					line = self._preprocess_lines(line)
 					self._log_stderr(line)
 					all_stderr.append(line)
 
 				line = p.stdout.readline(timeout=0.5)
 				if line:
+					line = self._preprocess_lines(line)
 					self._log_stdout(line)
 					all_stdout.append(line)
 
@@ -68,13 +103,14 @@ class CommandlineCaller(object):
 
 		stderr = p.stderr.text
 		if stderr:
-			split_lines = stderr.split("\n")
+			split_lines = self._preprocess_lines(
+				stderr.split("\n"))
 			self._log_stderr(*split_lines)
 			all_stderr += split_lines
 
 		stdout = p.stdout.text
 		if stdout:
-			split_lines = stdout.split("\n")
+			split_lines = self._preprocess_lines(stdout.split("\n"))
 			self._log_stdout(*split_lines)
 			all_stdout += split_lines
 
@@ -85,3 +121,6 @@ class CommandlineCaller(object):
 
 	def _log_stderr(self, *lines):
 		self.on_log_stderr(*lines)
+
+	def _preprocess_lines(self, lines):
+		return lines
diff --git a/src/octoprint/util/pip.py b/src/octoprint/util/pip.py
index b27e5fce..083741d1 100644
--- a/src/octoprint/util/pip.py
+++ b/src/octoprint/util/pip.py
@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ __copyright__ = "Copyright (C) 2015 The OctoPrint Project - Released under terms
 import sarge
 import sys
 import logging
-import re
 import site
 
 import pkg_resources
 
-from .commandline import CommandlineCaller
+from .commandline import CommandlineCaller, clean_ansi
+from octoprint.util import to_unicode
 
 _cache = dict(version=dict(), setup=dict())
 
@@ -258,7 +258,7 @@ class PipCaller(CommandlineCaller):
 			self._logger.warn("Error while trying to run pip --version: {}".format(p.stderr.text))
 			return None, None
 
-		output = p.stdout.text
+		output = PipCaller._preprocess(p.stdout.text)
 		# output should look something like this:
 		#
 		#     pip <version> from <path> (<python version>)
@@ -363,6 +363,28 @@ class PipCaller(CommandlineCaller):
 			self._logger.debug("Could not detect desired output from testballoon install, got this instead: {!r}".format(data))
 			return False, False, False, None
 
+	def _preprocess_lines(self, lines):
+		return map(self._preprocess, lines)
+
+	@staticmethod
+	def _preprocess(text):
+		"""
+		Strips ANSI and VT100 cursor control characters from line and makes sure it's a unicode.
+
+		Parameters:
+		    text (str or unicode): The text to process
+
+		Returns:
+		    (unicode) The processed text as a unicode, stripped of ANSI and VT100 cursor show/hide codes
+
+		Example::
+
+		    >>> text = b'some text with some\x1b[?25h ANSI codes for \x1b[31mred words\x1b[39m and\x1b[?25l also some cursor control codes'
+		    >>> PipCaller._preprocess(text)
+		    u'some text with some ANSI codes for red words and also some cursor control codes'
+		"""
+		return to_unicode(clean_ansi(text))
+
 class LocalPipCaller(PipCaller):
 	"""
 	The LocalPipCaller always uses the pip instance associated with