diff --git a/image-sixel.c b/image-sixel.c
index 606a5af03..b0d73ff09 100644
--- a/image-sixel.c
+++ b/image-sixel.c
@@ -482,10 +482,8 @@ sixel_parse(const char *buf, size_t len, u_int p1, u_int p2, u_int cell_w,
 			si->dx = 0;
 			break;
 		default:
-			if (ch < 0x20)
-				break;
 			if (ch < 0x3f || ch > 0x7e)
-				goto bad;
+				break;
 			if (sixel_parse_write(si, ch - 0x3f) != 0) {
 				log_debug("%s: width limit reached", __func__);
 				goto bad;
diff --git a/regress/image-support.sh b/regress/image-support.sh
index 9f6d98dfd..c251b1911 100755
--- a/regress/image-support.sh
+++ b/regress/image-support.sh
@@ -68,6 +68,14 @@ $TMUX new-window -d "
 sleep 1
 [ "$($TMUX capture-pane -pt:1 -S0 -E0)" = "XY" ] || exit 1
 
+# Stray characters in SIXEL data are ignored, not fatal to the whole image.
+$TMUX new-window -d -n sixel-stray "
+	printf '\033Pq#0;2;100;0;0#0!8~ \$!8~-!8~\033\\\\'
+	sleep 10"
+sleep 1
+[ "$($TMUX display-message -pt:sixel-stray '#{cursor_y}')" -gt 0 ] || exit 1
+$TMUX kill-window -t:sixel-stray || exit 1
+
 # The protocol default is transmit-only; a later placement uses the retained
 # immutable image and advances by the same canonical one-cell footprint.
 $TMUX new-window -d "