diff --git a/lib/classes/CLI.js b/lib/classes/CLI.js
index f4db3010393..cf5972afce8 100644
--- a/lib/classes/CLI.js
+++ b/lib/classes/CLI.js
@@ -34,32 +34,43 @@ class CLI {
       inputArray = process.argv.slice(2);
     }
 
-    const toBase64Helper = (value, index) => {
-      if ((index % 2) !== 0) {
-        return new Buffer(value.toString()).toString('base64');
+    const base64Encode = (valueStr) =>
+      new Buffer(valueStr).toString('base64');
+
+    const toBase64Helper = (value) => {
+      const valueStr = value.toString();
+      if (valueStr.startsWith('-')) {
+        if (valueStr.indexOf('=') !== -1) {
+          // do not encode argument names, since those are parsed by
+          // minimist, and thus need to be there unconverted:
+          const splitted = valueStr.split('=', 2);
+          // splitted[1] values, however, need to be encoded, since we
+          // decode them later back to utf8
+          const encodedValue = base64Encode(splitted[1]);
+          return `${splitted[0]}=${encodedValue}`;
+        }
+        // do not encode plain flags, for the same reason as above
+        return valueStr;
       }
-      return value;
+      return base64Encode(valueStr);
     };
 
     const decodedArgsHelper = (arg) => {
       if (_.isString(arg)) {
         return new Buffer(arg, 'base64').toString();
+      } else if (_.isArray(arg)) {
+        return _.map(arg, decodedArgsHelper);
       }
       return arg;
     };
 
-    // get all the commands
-    const valuesToIgnore = _.takeWhile(inputArray, (item) => !item.startsWith('-'));
-    // get all the options
-    const valuesToConvert = _.difference(inputArray, valuesToIgnore);
     // encode all the options values to base64
-    const valuesToB64 = _.map(valuesToConvert, toBase64Helper);
-    // concat commands with values on base64
-    const valuesToParse = _.concat(valuesToIgnore, valuesToB64);
+    const valuesToParse = _.map(inputArray, toBase64Helper);
 
+    // parse the options with minimist
     const argvToParse = minimist(valuesToParse);
 
-    // decode all values to utf8 strings
+    // decode all values back to utf8 strings
     const argv = _.mapValues(argvToParse, decodedArgsHelper);
 
     const commands = [].concat(argv._);
diff --git a/lib/classes/CLI.test.js b/lib/classes/CLI.test.js
index 112b8befaba..30237c50826 100644
--- a/lib/classes/CLI.test.js
+++ b/lib/classes/CLI.test.js
@@ -371,6 +371,29 @@ describe('CLI', () => {
       expect(inputToBeProcessed).to.deep.equal(expectedObject);
     });
 
+    it('should not pass base64 values as options', () => {
+      cli = new CLI(serverless, ['--service=foo', 'dynamodb', 'install']);
+      const inputToBeProcessed = cli.processInput();
+
+      /* It used to fail with the following diff, failing to convert base64 back,
+         and unconverting non-base64 values into binary:
+       {
+         "commands": [
+      -    "ZHluYW1vZGI="
+      +    "dynamodb"
+           "install"
+         ]
+         "options": {
+      -    "service": "~�"
+      +    "service": "foo"
+         }
+       }
+      */
+      const expectedObject = { commands: ['dynamodb', 'install'], options: { service: 'foo' } };
+
+      expect(inputToBeProcessed).to.deep.equal(expectedObject);
+    });
+
     it('should return commands and options when both are given', () => {
       cli = new CLI(serverless, ['deploy', 'functions', '-f', 'function1']);
       const inputToBeProcessed = cli.processInput();