diff --git a/demos/gtk-demo/geninclude.py b/demos/gtk-demo/geninclude.py
index 57038a43b8..cd0af14e0d 100755
--- a/demos/gtk-demo/geninclude.py
+++ b/demos/gtk-demo/geninclude.py
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ demos = []
 for demo_file in in_files:
     filename =  demo_file[demo_file.rfind('/')+1:]
     demo_name = filename.replace(".c", "")
-    with open(demo_file, 'r') as f:
+    with open(demo_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
         title = f.readline().replace("/*", "").strip()
 
 
diff --git a/gdk/wayland/genprotocolfiles.py b/gdk/wayland/genprotocolfiles.py
index cf4faed78f..1edd4e33e3 100755
--- a/gdk/wayland/genprotocolfiles.py
+++ b/gdk/wayland/genprotocolfiles.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ if pc.returncode != 0:
 
 # Now read the generated file again and remove all WL_EXPORTs
 content = ""
-with open(out_file, 'r') as content_file:
+with open(out_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as content_file:
     content = content_file.read()
 
 content = content.replace('WL_EXPORT ', '')