Template validation error: Template contains invalid characters

[JonathanBowker]

I have downloaded the sample application template (kinesis-data-vis-sample-app.template) from GitHub.
Saved the template file to my computer's local drive.

Logged in to the AWS CloudFormation console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudformation/home.

Created New Stack and get the following Error Message:

Error
Template validation error: Template contains invalid characters

Any ideas why this may be

[ankitgin]

Sometime .docx files get this issue. Try saving your cloud formation template in .txt file. This is should work. If somehow issue is still present try encoding the txt file in acsii format.