diff --git a/src/gen-hb-version.py b/src/gen-hb-version.py
index e54132bc9..70e69d8b6 100755
--- a/src/gen-hb-version.py
+++ b/src/gen-hb-version.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ major, minor, micro = version.split (".")
 input = sys.argv[2]
 output = sys.argv[3]
 
-with open (output, "wb") as output_file, open (input, "r") as input_file:
+with open (output, "wb") as output_file, open (input, "r", encoding='utf-8') as input_file:
 	output_file.write (input_file.read ()
 		.replace ("@HB_VERSION_MAJOR@", major)
 		.replace ("@HB_VERSION_MINOR@", minor)