diff --git a/test/runjsontests.py b/test/runjsontests.py
index 9422d57d9..62e560076 100644
--- a/test/runjsontests.py
+++ b/test/runjsontests.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ def safeGetLine( lines, index ):
         
 def safeReadFile( path ):
     try:
-        return file( path, 'rt' ).read()
+        return open( path, 'rt', encoding = 'utf-8' ).read()
     except IOError as e:
         return '<File "%s" is missing: %s>' % (path,e)
 
@@ -77,13 +77,13 @@ def runAllTests( jsontest_executable_path, input_dir = None,
             base_path = os.path.splitext(input_path)[0]
             actual_output = safeReadFile( base_path + '.actual' )
             actual_rewrite_output = safeReadFile( base_path + '.actual-rewrite' )
-            file(base_path + '.process-output','wt').write( process_output )
+            open(base_path + '.process-output', 'wt', encoding = 'utf-8').write( process_output )
             if status:
                 print('parsing failed')
                 failed_tests.append( (input_path, 'Parsing failed:\n' + process_output) )
             else:
                 expected_output_path = os.path.splitext(input_path)[0] + '.expected'
-                expected_output = file( expected_output_path, 'rt' ).read()
+                expected_output = open( expected_output_path, 'rt', encoding = 'utf-8' ).read()
                 detail = ( compareOutputs( expected_output, actual_output, 'input' )
                             or compareOutputs( expected_output, actual_rewrite_output, 'rewrite' ) )
                 if detail:
diff --git a/test/rununittests.py b/test/rununittests.py
index 6279f80e3..90b7bb9ec 100644
--- a/test/rununittests.py
+++ b/test/rununittests.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def runAllTests( exe_path, use_valgrind=False ):
     if not status:
         print("Failed to obtain unit tests list:\n" + test_names, file=sys.stderr)
         return 1
-    test_names = [name.strip() for name in test_names.strip().split('\n')]
+    test_names = [name.strip() for name in test_names.decode('utf-8').strip().split('\n')]
     failures = []
     for name in test_names:
         print('TESTING %s:' % name, end=' ')