diff --git a/scripts/spec.py b/scripts/spec.py
index 3c02dfe..7823a76 100644
--- a/scripts/spec.py
+++ b/scripts/spec.py
@@ -279,7 +279,7 @@
             outfile.write("\n".join(db_lines))
     def readDB(self, db_file):
         """Read a db file into a dict, refer to genDB function above for format of each line"""
-        with open(db_file, "r") as infile:
+        with open(db_file, "r", encoding='utf-8') as infile:
             for line in infile:
                 line = line.strip()
                 if line.startswith('#') or '' == line: