diff --git a/convert-hf-to-gguf-update.py b/convert-hf-to-gguf-update.py
index fbf1e1ea3..67598b561 100755
--- a/convert-hf-to-gguf-update.py
+++ b/convert-hf-to-gguf-update.py
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ src_func = f"""
 """
 
 convert_py_pth = pathlib.Path("convert-hf-to-gguf.py")
-convert_py = convert_py_pth.read_text()
+convert_py = convert_py_pth.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
 convert_py = re.sub(
     r"(# Marker: Start get_vocab_base_pre)(.+?)( +# Marker: End get_vocab_base_pre)",
     lambda m: m.group(1) + src_func + m.group(3),
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ convert_py = re.sub(
     flags=re.DOTALL | re.MULTILINE,
 )
 
-convert_py_pth.write_text(convert_py)
+convert_py_pth.write_text(convert_py, encoding="utf-8")
 
 logger.info("+++ convert-hf-to-gguf.py was updated")