diff --git a/src/datasets/utils/metadata.py b/src/datasets/utils/metadata.py
index 8c4c94a5e48..710483ed46d 100644
--- a/src/datasets/utils/metadata.py
+++ b/src/datasets/utils/metadata.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ def construct_mapping(self, node, deep=False):
 
 
 def yaml_block_from_readme(path: Path) -> Optional[str]:
-    with path.open() as readme_file:
+    with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as readme_file:
         content = [line.rstrip("\n") for line in readme_file]
 
     if content[0] == "---" and "---" in content[1:]:
diff --git a/src/datasets/utils/readme.py b/src/datasets/utils/readme.py
index 45b8713f085..79f6f4f71bd 100644
--- a/src/datasets/utils/readme.py
+++ b/src/datasets/utils/readme.py
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ def __init__(self, name: str, lines: List[str], structure: dict = None):
 
     @classmethod
     def from_readme(cls, path: Path, structure: dict = None):
-        with open(path) as f:
+        with open(path, encoding="utf-8") as f:
             lines = f.readlines()
         return cls(path, lines, structure)