diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e9f16eb..312acde 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ setuptools.setup(name='brozzler',
         url='https://github.com/nlevitt/brozzler',
         author='Noah Levitt',
         author_email='nlevitt@archive.org',
-        long_description=open('README.rst').read(),
+        long_description=open('README.rst', encoding='UTF-8').read(),
         license='Apache License 2.0',
         packages=['brozzler'],
         package_data={'brozzler': ['behaviors.d/*.js*', 'behaviors.yaml']},