diff --git a/bin/gather_freqs.py b/bin/gather_freqs.py
index f0cbdfa4f..fa3d61ee1 100644
--- a/bin/gather_freqs.py
+++ b/bin/gather_freqs.py
@@ -1,26 +1,28 @@
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
 import plac
+import io
 
 def main(in_loc, out_loc):
-    out_file = open(out_loc, 'w')
     this_key = None
     this_freq = 0
     df = 0
-    for line in open(in_loc):
-        line = line.strip()
-        if not line:
-            continue
-        freq, key = line.split('\t', 1)
-        freq = int(freq)
-        if this_key is not None and key != this_key:
-            out_file.write('%d\t%d\t%s\n' % (this_freq, df, this_key))
-            this_key = key
-            this_freq = freq
-            df = 1
-        else:
-            this_freq += freq
-            df += 1
-    out_file.write('%d\t%d\t%s\n' % (this_freq, df, this_key))
-    out_file.close()
+    with io.open(out_loc, 'w', encoding='utf8') as out_file:
+        for line in io.open(in_loc, encoding='utf8'):
+            line = line.strip()
+            if not line:
+                continue
+            freq, key = line.split('\t', 1)
+            freq = int(freq)
+            if this_key is not None and key != this_key:
+                out_file.write('%d\t%d\t%s\n' % (this_freq, df, this_key))
+                this_key = key
+                this_freq = freq
+                df = 1
+            else:
+                this_freq += freq
+                df += 1
+                this_key = key
+        out_file.write('%d\t%d\t%s\n' % (this_freq, df, this_key))
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':