diff --git a/qutebrowser/browser/curcommand.py b/qutebrowser/browser/curcommand.py
index 0e2193e68..f68885bc4 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/browser/curcommand.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/browser/curcommand.py
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ class CurCommandDispatcher(QObject):
         oshandle, filename = mkstemp(text=True)
         text = elem.evaluateJavaScript('this.value')
         if text:
-            with open(filename, 'w') as f:
+            with open(filename, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                 f.write(text)
         proc = QProcess(self)
         proc.finished.connect(partial(self.on_editor_closed, elem, oshandle,
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ class CurCommandDispatcher(QObject):
         if elem.isNull():
             message.error("Element vanished while editing!")
             return
-        with open(filename, 'r') as f:
+        with open(filename, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             text = ''.join(f.readlines())
             text = webelem.javascript_escape(text)
         logging.debug("Read back: {}".format(text))
diff --git a/qutebrowser/config/_iniparsers.py b/qutebrowser/config/_iniparsers.py
index e8ddd7385..5ec99f04f 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/config/_iniparsers.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/config/_iniparsers.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ class ReadConfigParser(ConfigParser):
         if not os.path.isfile(self._configfile):
             return
         logging.debug("Reading config from {}".format(self._configfile))
-        self.read(self._configfile)
+        self.read(self._configfile, encoding='utf-8')
 
 
 class ReadWriteConfigParser(ReadConfigParser):
@@ -58,5 +58,5 @@ class ReadWriteConfigParser(ReadConfigParser):
         if not os.path.exists(self._configdir):
             os.makedirs(self._configdir, 0o755)
         logging.debug("Saving config to {}".format(self._configfile))
-        with open(self._configfile, 'w') as f:
+        with open(self._configfile, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             self.write(f)
diff --git a/qutebrowser/config/_lineparser.py b/qutebrowser/config/_lineparser.py
index 7f5f10a98..3675d171c 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/config/_lineparser.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/config/_lineparser.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class LineConfigParser:
 
     def read(self, filename):
         """Read the data from a file."""
-        with open(filename, 'r') as f:
+        with open(filename, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             self.data = [line.rstrip('\n') for line in f.readlines()]
 
     def write(self, fp, limit=-1):
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class LineConfigParser:
         if not os.path.exists(self._configdir):
             os.makedirs(self._configdir, 0o755)
         logging.debug("Saving config to {}".format(self._configfile))
-        with open(self._configfile, 'w') as f:
+        with open(self._configfile, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             self.write(f, limit)
 
     @pyqtSlot(str, str)
diff --git a/qutebrowser/config/config.py b/qutebrowser/config/config.py
index 33c500a02..c48d47430 100644
--- a/qutebrowser/config/config.py
+++ b/qutebrowser/config/config.py
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ class ConfigManager(QObject):
         if not os.path.exists(self._configdir):
             os.makedirs(self._configdir, 0o755)
         logging.debug("Saving config to {}".format(self._configfile))
-        with open(self._configfile, 'w') as f:
+        with open(self._configfile, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             f.write(str(self))
 
     def dump_userconfig(self):
diff --git a/scripts/run_checks.py b/scripts/run_checks.py
index 51887e2cc..f969b9962 100755
--- a/scripts/run_checks.py
+++ b/scripts/run_checks.py
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ options = {
         ],
     },
     'exclude': ['appdirs.py'],
+    'exclude_pep257': [],
     'other': {
         'pylint': ['--output-format=colorized', '--reports=no',
                    '--rcfile=.pylintrc'],
@@ -59,6 +60,10 @@ options = {
     },
 }
 
+if os.name == 'nt':
+    # pep257 uses cp1252 by default on Windows, which can't handle the unicode
+    # arrows in configdata.py
+    options['exclude_pep257'].append('configdata.py')
 
 def run(name, args=None):
     """Run a checker via distutils with optional args.
@@ -180,7 +185,7 @@ def _get_args(checker):
             pass
         try:
             args += ['--match=(?!{}).*\.py'.format('|'.join(
-                options['exclude']))]
+                options['exclude'] + options['exclude_pep257']))]
         except KeyError:
             pass
         try:
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 9e29332da..0c4b81818 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 import qutebrowser
 
 def read_file(name):
-    with open(name) as f:
+    with open(name, encoding='utf-8') as f:
         return f.read()
 
 setup(