diff --git a/mirrulations-extractor/src/mirrextractor/extractor.py b/mirrulations-extractor/src/mirrextractor/extractor.py
index b67850b0..f1cdb860 100644
--- a/mirrulations-extractor/src/mirrextractor/extractor.py
+++ b/mirrulations-extractor/src/mirrextractor/extractor.py
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ def update_stats():
                     # large, and a restart would try again.  This ensures
                     # that the extraction is not attempted again when the
                     # extractor process is restarted (by Docker).
-                    with open(output_path, 'w') as f:
+                    with open(output_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                         pass
                     start_time = time.time()
                     Extractor.extract_text(complete_path, output_path)