diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 08963c6..6324c18 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 # note: all settings are in settings.ini; edit there, not here
 config = ConfigParser(delimiters=['='])
-config.read('settings.ini')
+config.read('settings.ini', encoding='utf-8')
 cfg = config['DEFAULT']
 
 cfg_keys = 'version description keywords author author_email'.split()
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@
 if cfg.get('pip_requirements'): requirements += cfg.get('pip_requirements','').split()
 dev_requirements = (cfg.get('dev_requirements') or '').split()
 
-long_description = open('README.md').read()
+long_description = open('README.md', encoding="utf-8").read()
 # ![png](docs/images/output_13_0.png)
 for ext in ['png', 'svg']:
     long_description = re.sub(r'!\['+ext+'\]\((.*)\)', '!['+ext+']('+'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/{}/{}'.format(cfg['user'],cfg['lib_name'])+'/'+cfg['branch']+'/\\1)', long_description)