diff --git a/crates/runc/src/lib.rs b/crates/runc/src/lib.rs
index 2d96519..72cbaf8 100644
--- a/crates/runc/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/runc/src/lib.rs
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ mod utils;
 use crate::container::Container;
 use crate::error::Error;
 #[cfg(feature = "async")]
-use crate::monitor::{DefaultMonitor, Exit, ProcessMonitor};
+use crate::monitor::{execute, DefaultMonitor, ExecuteResult};
 use crate::options::*;
 
 type Result<T> = std::result::Result<T, crate::error::Error>;
@@ -327,34 +327,23 @@ impl Runc {
     const MONITOR: DefaultMonitor = DefaultMonitor::new();
 
     pub async fn launch(&self, cmd: Command, combined_output: bool) -> Result<Response> {
-        let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel::<Exit>();
-        let start = Self::MONITOR.start(cmd, tx);
-        let wait = Self::MONITOR.wait(rx);
-        let (
-            std::process::Output {
-                status,
-                stdout,
-                stderr,
-            },
-            Exit { pid, .. },
-        ) = tokio::try_join!(start, wait).map_err(Error::InvalidCommand)?;
-
-        // ugly hack to work around
-        let stdout = String::from_utf8(stdout)
-            .expect("returned non-utf8 characters from container process.");
-        let stderr = String::from_utf8(stderr)
-            .expect("returned non-utf8 characters from container process.");
+        let ExecuteResult {
+            exit,
+            status,
+            stdout,
+            stderr,
+        } = execute(&Self::MONITOR, cmd).await?;
 
         if status.success() {
             if combined_output {
                 Ok(Response {
-                    pid,
+                    pid: exit.pid,
                     status,
                     output: stdout + stderr.as_str(),
                 })
             } else {
                 Ok(Response {
-                    pid,
+                    pid: exit.pid,
                     status,
                     output: stdout,
                 })
@@ -390,26 +379,14 @@ impl Runc {
         match opts {
             Some(CreateOpts { io: Some(_io), .. }) => {
                 _io.set(&mut cmd).map_err(Error::UnavailableIO)?;
-                let (tx, rx) = tokio::sync::oneshot::channel::<Exit>();
-                let start = Self::MONITOR.start(cmd, tx);
-                let wait = Self::MONITOR.wait(rx);
-                let (
-                    std::process::Output {
-                        status,
-                        stdout,
-                        stderr,
-                    },
-                    _,
-                ) = tokio::try_join!(start, wait).map_err(Error::InvalidCommand)?;
+                let result = execute(&Self::MONITOR, cmd).await?;
                 _io.close_after_start();
 
-                let stdout = String::from_utf8(stdout).unwrap();
-                let stderr = String::from_utf8(stderr).unwrap();
-                if !status.success() {
+                if !result.status.success() {
                     return Err(Error::CommandFailed {
-                        status,
-                        stdout,
-                        stderr,
+                        status: result.status,
+                        stdout: result.stdout,
+                        stderr: result.stderr,
                     });
                 }
             }
diff --git a/crates/runc/src/monitor.rs b/crates/runc/src/monitor.rs
index 194b65b..7f6032e 100644
--- a/crates/runc/src/monitor.rs
+++ b/crates/runc/src/monitor.rs
@@ -14,12 +14,15 @@
    limitations under the License.
 */
 
-use std::process::Output;
+use std::process::{ExitStatus, Output, Stdio};
 
 use async_trait::async_trait;
 use log::error;
 use time::OffsetDateTime;
-use tokio::sync::oneshot::{Receiver, Sender};
+use tokio::process::Command;
+use tokio::sync::oneshot::{channel, Receiver, Sender};
+
+use crate::error::Error;
 
 /// A trait for spawning and waiting for a process.
 ///
@@ -36,11 +39,7 @@ pub trait ProcessMonitor {
     /// Use [tokio::process::Command::stdout(Stdio::piped())](https://docs.rs/tokio/1.16.1/tokio/process/struct.Command.html#method.stdout)
     /// and/or [tokio::process::Command::stderr(Stdio::piped())](https://docs.rs/tokio/1.16.1/tokio/process/struct.Command.html#method.stderr)
     /// respectively, when creating the [Command](https://docs.rs/tokio/1.16.1/tokio/process/struct.Command.html#).
-    async fn start(
-        &self,
-        mut cmd: tokio::process::Command,
-        tx: Sender<Exit>,
-    ) -> std::io::Result<Output> {
+    async fn start(&self, mut cmd: Command, tx: Sender<Exit>) -> std::io::Result<Output> {
         let chi = cmd.spawn()?;
         // Safe to expect() because wait() hasn't been called yet, dependence on tokio interanl
         // implementation details.
@@ -90,6 +89,49 @@ pub struct Exit {
     pub status: i32,
 }
 
+/// Execution result returned by `execute()`.
+pub struct ExecuteResult {
+    pub exit: Exit,
+    pub status: ExitStatus,
+    pub stdout: String,
+    pub stderr: String,
+}
+
+/// Execute a `Command` and collect exit status, output and error messages.
+///
+/// To collect output and error messages, pipes must be used for Command's stdout and stderr.
+/// This method will create pipes and overwrite stdout/stderr of `cmd`.
+///
+/// Note: invalid UTF-8 characters in output and error messages will be replaced with the `�` char.
+pub async fn execute<T: ProcessMonitor + Send + Sync>(
+    monitor: &T,
+    mut cmd: Command,
+) -> Result<ExecuteResult, Error> {
+    let (tx, rx) = channel::<Exit>();
+
+    cmd.stdout(Stdio::piped());
+    cmd.stderr(Stdio::piped());
+    let start = monitor.start(cmd, tx);
+    let wait = monitor.wait(rx);
+    let (
+        Output {
+            stdout,
+            stderr,
+            status,
+        },
+        exit,
+    ) = tokio::try_join!(start, wait).map_err(Error::InvalidCommand)?;
+    let stdout = String::from_utf8_lossy(&stdout).to_string();
+    let stderr = String::from_utf8_lossy(&stderr).to_string();
+
+    Ok(ExecuteResult {
+        exit,
+        status,
+        stdout,
+        stderr,
+    })
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
     use super::*;
@@ -123,4 +165,16 @@ mod tests {
         let status = monitor.wait(rx).await.unwrap();
         assert_eq!(status.status, 0);
     }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_execute() {
+        let cmd = Command::new("ls");
+        let monitor = DefaultMonitor::new();
+        let result = execute(&monitor, cmd).await.unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(result.exit.status, 0);
+        assert!(result.status.success());
+        assert!(!result.stdout.is_empty());
+        assert_eq!(result.stderr.len(), 0);
+    }
 }