diff --git a/pex/installer.py b/pex/installer.py
index e2e955a96..80e7e0840 100644
--- a/pex/installer.py
+++ b/pex/installer.py
@@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ def function_wrapper(self, *args, **kw):
 
 
 class InstallerBase(object):
-  SETUP_BOOTSTRAP_HEADER = "import sys"
+  SETUP_BOOTSTRAP_HEADER = "import io, sys"
   SETUP_BOOTSTRAP_MODULE = "sys.path.insert(0, %(path)r); import %(module)s"
   SETUP_BOOTSTRAP_FOOTER = """
 __file__ = 'setup.py'
 sys.argv[0] = 'setup.py'
-exec(compile(open(__file__).read().replace('\\r\\n', '\\n'), __file__, 'exec'))
+exec(compile(io.open(__file__, encoding='utf-8').read().replace('\\r\\n', '\\n'), __file__, 'exec'))
 """
 
   class Error(Exception): pass