diff --git a/pep2rss.py b/pep2rss.py
index 0aa2a0923..71e2c413c 100755
--- a/pep2rss.py
+++ b/pep2rss.py
@@ -1,16 +1,15 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 # usage: pep-hook.py $REPOS $REV
 # (standard post-commit args)
 
 import os, glob, time, datetime, stat, re, sys
-import codecs
 import PyRSS2Gen as rssgen
 
 RSS_PATH = os.path.join(sys.argv[1], 'peps.rss')
 
 def firstline_startingwith(full_path, text):
-    for line in codecs.open(full_path, encoding="utf-8"):
+    for line in open(full_path, encoding="utf-8"):
         if line.startswith(text):
             return line[len(text):].strip()
     return None
@@ -71,5 +70,5 @@ rss = rssgen.RSS2(
     lastBuildDate = datetime.datetime.now(),
     items = items)
 
-with open(RSS_PATH, 'w') as fp:
-    fp.write(rss.to_xml())
+with open(RSS_PATH, 'w', encoding="utf-8") as fp:
+    fp.write(rss.to_xml(encoding="utf-8"))