diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index f0d657c79..1c109ac55 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3.5
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 import sys
@@ -53,7 +52,7 @@ setup(
     author_email="artiq@lists.m-labs.hk",
     url="https://m-labs.hk/artiq",
     description="Advanced Real-Time Infrastructure for Quantum physics",
-    long_description=open("README.rst").read(),
+    long_description=open("README.rst", encoding="utf-8").read(),
     license="GPLv3+",
     classifiers="""\
 Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable