diff --git a/cmd/sops/main.go b/cmd/sops/main.go
index 2c1a2b32c..6d45ef485 100644
--- a/cmd/sops/main.go
+++ b/cmd/sops/main.go
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3/kms"
 	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3/logging"
 	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3/pgp"
+	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3/stores"
 	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3/stores/dotenv"
 	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3/stores/json"
 	"github.com/getsops/sops/v3/version"
@@ -255,7 +256,7 @@ func main() {
 					}
 					value, ok := item.Value.(string)
 					if !ok {
-						return cli.NewExitError(fmt.Errorf("cannot use non-string values in environment, got %T", item.Value), codes.ErrorGeneric)
+						value = stores.ValToString(item.Value)
 					}
 					env = append(env, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", key, value))
 				}
diff --git a/stores/dotenv/store.go b/stores/dotenv/store.go
index 1e533341e..c6ec8b505 100644
--- a/stores/dotenv/store.go
+++ b/stores/dotenv/store.go
@@ -141,7 +141,13 @@ func (store *Store) EmitPlainFile(in sops.TreeBranches) ([]byte, error) {
 		if comment, ok := item.Key.(sops.Comment); ok {
 			line = fmt.Sprintf("#%s\n", comment.Value)
 		} else {
-			value := strings.Replace(item.Value.(string), "\n", "\\n", -1)
+			value, ok := item.Value.(string)
+			if !ok {
+				value = stores.ValToString(item.Value)
+			} else {
+				value = strings.ReplaceAll(value, "\n", "\\n")
+			}
+
 			line = fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s\n", item.Key, value)
 		}
 		buffer.WriteString(line)