diff --git a/scripts/packaging/generate_proto_list.py b/scripts/packaging/generate_proto_list.py
index dcaafa0496d..2d5baece90e 100644
--- a/scripts/packaging/generate_proto_list.py
+++ b/scripts/packaging/generate_proto_list.py
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ def __init__(self, path, name):
         self.needs_robot_ancestor = False
 
         # store file contents to avoid reading it multiple times
-        with open(self.path, 'r') as file:
+        with open(self.path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as file:
             self.contents = file.read()
             # remove IndexedFaceSet related fields since they significantly slow down the subsequent regex
             self.contents = re.sub(r'point\s+\[[^\]]+\]', '', self.contents)