diff --git a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__about__.py b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__about__.py
index 21790a2c..129ad01f 100644
--- a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__about__.py
+++ b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__about__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2024-present Adam Fourney <adamfo@microsoft.com>
 #
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
-__version__ = "0.1.0a5"
+__version__ = "0.1.0a6"
diff --git a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__main__.py b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__main__.py
index 3d8e396e..cfb1c6e8 100644
--- a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__main__.py
+++ b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/__main__.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 import argparse
 import sys
 import codecs
+import locale
 from textwrap import dedent
 from importlib.metadata import entry_points
 from .__about__ import __version__
@@ -204,9 +205,14 @@ def _handle_output(args, result: DocumentConverterResult):
     """Handle output to stdout or file"""
     if args.output:
         with open(args.output, "w", encoding="utf-8") as f:
-            f.write(result.text_content)
+            f.write(result.markdown)
     else:
-        print(result.text_content)
+        # Handle stdout encoding errors more gracefully
+        print(
+            result.markdown.encode(sys.stdout.encoding, errors="replace").decode(
+                sys.stdout.encoding
+            )
+        )
 
 
 def _exit_with_error(message: str):