diff --git a/native_client/javascript/index.js b/native_client/javascript/index.js
index df827f04..cca483f1 100644
--- a/native_client/javascript/index.js
+++ b/native_client/javascript/index.js
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ function Model(aModelPath) {
     const status = rets[0];
     const impl = rets[1];
     if (status !== 0) {
-        throw "CreateModel failed with error code " + status;
+        throw "CreateModel failed with error code 0x" + status.toString(16);
     }
 
     this._impl = impl;
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ Model.prototype.createStream = function() {
     const status = rets[0];
     const ctx = rets[1];
     if (status !== 0) {
-        throw "CreateStream failed with error code " + status;
+        throw "CreateStream failed with error code 0x" + status.toString(16);
     }
     return ctx;
 }
diff --git a/native_client/python/__init__.py b/native_client/python/__init__.py
index dffc960d..a6511efe 100644
--- a/native_client/python/__init__.py
+++ b/native_client/python/__init__.py
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ class Model(object):
 
         status, impl = deepspeech.impl.CreateModel(model_path)
         if status != 0:
-            raise RuntimeError("CreateModel failed with error code {}".format(status))
+            raise RuntimeError("CreateModel failed with error code 0x{:X}".format(status))
         self._impl = impl
 
     def __del__(self):
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ class Model(object):
         """
         status, ctx = deepspeech.impl.CreateStream(self._impl)
         if status != 0:
-            raise RuntimeError("CreateStream failed with error code {}".format(status))
+            raise RuntimeError("CreateStream failed with error code 0x{:X}".format(status))
         return Stream(ctx)