diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f659e17..9cb6fdb 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,14 +1,12 @@
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 from os import path
 import re
+import io
 
-
-VERSION = re.search("VERSION = '([^']+)'", open(
+VERSION = re.search("VERSION = '([^']+)'", io.open(
     path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'cairocffi', '__init__.py')
-).read().strip()).group(1)
-
-LONG_DESCRIPTION = open(path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'README.rst')).read()
-
+, encoding='utf-8').read().strip()).group(1)
+LONG_DESCRIPTION = io.open(path.join(path.dirname(__file__), 'README.rst'), encoding='utf-8').read()
 
 setup(
     name='cairocffi',