diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index aa9f82ff4..846625814 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ else:
     cmdclass["jsdeps"] = skip_if_exists(jstargets, js_command)
 
 
-with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
+with open("README.md", "r", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
     long_description = fh.read()
 
 setup_args = dict(