diff --git a/aptsources/sourceslist.py b/aptsources/sourceslist.py
index 91ce8ef..36e276d 100644
--- a/aptsources/sourceslist.py
+++ b/aptsources/sourceslist.py
@@ -83,6 +83,17 @@ def uniq(s):
     return list(set(s))
 
 
+def _open_decoded_in_py3(path, mode):
+    """Hardcode UTF-8 in Python 3. We do it everywhere else as well."""
+    import sys
+    import io
+
+    if sys.version_info.major >= 3:
+        return io.open(path, mode, encoding="utf-8")
+    else:
+        return open(path, mode)
+
+
 class SourceEntry(object):
     """ single sources.list entry """
 
@@ -230,6 +241,14 @@ class SourceEntry(object):
         """ debug helper """
         return self.str().strip()
 
+    def __bytes__(self):
+        """python3 debug helper """
+        return self.str().strip().encode("utf-8")
+
+    def __unicode__(self):
+        """python2 debug helper """
+        return self.str().strip().decode("utf-8")
+
     def str(self):
         """ return the current line as string """
         if self.invalid:
@@ -387,7 +406,7 @@ class SourcesList(object):
     def load(self, file):
         """ (re)load the current sources """
         try:
-            with open(file, "r") as f:
+            with _open_decoded_in_py3(file, "r") as f:
                 for line in f:
                     source = SourceEntry(line, file)
                     self.list.append(source)
@@ -405,14 +424,14 @@ class SourcesList(object):
                 "# Remember that you can only use http, ftp or file URIs\n"
                 "# CDROMs are managed through the apt-cdrom tool.\n")
 
-            with open(path, "w") as f:
+            with _open_decoded_in_py3(path, "w") as f:
                 f.write(header)
             return
 
         try:
             for source in self.list:
                 if source.file not in files:
-                    files[source.file] = open(source.file, "w")
+                    files[source.file] = _open_decoded_in_py3(source.file, "w")
                 files[source.file].write(source.str())
         finally:
             for f in files:
diff --git a/tests/data/aptsources/sources.list b/tests/data/aptsources/sources.list
index 8ca6807..9a3b836 100644
--- a/tests/data/aptsources/sources.list
+++ b/tests/data/aptsources/sources.list
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # comment 1
-deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main
+deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy main  # Unicode: Äffchen
 # comment 2
 deb http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ edgy restricted
 # comment 3
diff --git a/tests/test_aptsources.py b/tests/test_aptsources.py
index f955205..5779e8e 100644
--- a/tests/test_aptsources.py
+++ b/tests/test_aptsources.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
+# This Python file uses the following encoding: utf-8
 
+import sys
 import unittest
 import os
 import copy
@@ -41,6 +43,12 @@ class TestAptSources(unittest.TestCase):
                                                    "sources.list")
         sources = aptsources.sourceslist.SourcesList(True, self.templates)
         self.assertEqual(len(sources.list), 10)
+        if sys.version_info.major < 3:
+            self.assertRegexpMatches(str(sources.list[1]), '\xc3\x84ffchen$')
+            self.assertRegexpMatches(unicode(sources.list[1]), u'Äffchen$')
+        else:
+            self.assertRegex(bytes(sources.list[1]), b'\xc3\x84ffchen$')
+            self.assertRegex(str(sources.list[1]), 'Äffchen$')
         # test load
         sources.list = []
         sources.load("data/aptsources/sources.list")