diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f0ce7ff..1bec16f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 # Changelog
+## v0.1.0a2
+- Explicitly set the default file encoding to utf8
 ## v0.1.0a1
 - Implemented `build`, `make_xml` functions
 - Added symbols.py and ldscript
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index 4aacd04..f6c5959 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [metadata]
 name = supSMSGecko
-version = 0.1.0a1
+version = 0.1.0a2
 author = sup39
 author_email = sms@sup39.dev
 description = A helper library to write Gecko code for Super Mario Sunshine
diff --git a/src/supSMSGecko/lib.py b/src/supSMSGecko/lib.py
index 76cd4dc..618e1f3 100644
--- a/src/supSMSGecko/lib.py
+++ b/src/supSMSGecko/lib.py
@@ -18,10 +18,10 @@ def build(main, version):
 def make_xml(
   main, versions=VERSIONS,
   info_xml='info.xml', out_xml='out.xml',
-  indent=4, tag='code',
+  indent=4, tag='code', encoding='utf8',
 ):
   if type(indent) == int: indent = ' '*indent
-  with open(out_xml, 'w') as fw:
+  with open(out_xml, 'w', encoding=encoding) as fw:
     def write_sources(indent_src):
       for ver in versions:
         print(f'{indent_src}<source version="{ver}">', file=fw)
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ def make_xml(
         print(f'{indent_src}</source>', file=fw)
     if info_xml is not None and os.path.isfile(info_xml):
       found_tag = False
-      with open(info_xml) as f:
+      with open(info_xml, encoding=encoding) as f:
         for line in f:
           m = re.search(r'^(\s*)</(\S+)\s*>', line)
           if m is not None: