diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index ee1a6823..e05918c3 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
     VERSION = str(ast.literal_eval(_version_re.search(
         f.read().decode('utf-8')).group(1)))
 
-with open('README.md') as f:
+with open('README.md', encoding="utf-8") as f:
     README = f.read()
 
 # setup -----------------------------------------------------------------------