diff --git a/py/setup.py b/py/setup.py
index 53f85dada1..8344c0aa4f 100644
--- a/py/setup.py
+++ b/py/setup.py
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ def run(self):
                             )
 ]
 
-with open("README.md", "r") as fh:
+with open("README.md", "r", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
     long_description = fh.read()
 
 setup(