diff --git a/git_cl.py b/git_cl.py
index 87904a900..fc77ef8c2 100755
--- a/git_cl.py
+++ b/git_cl.py
@@ -666,13 +666,12 @@ def _GetYapfIgnorePatterns(top_dir):
   if not os.path.exists(yapfignore_file):
     return ignore_patterns
 
-  with open(yapfignore_file) as f:
-    for line in f.readlines():
-      stripped_line = line.strip()
-      # Comments and blank lines should be ignored.
-      if stripped_line.startswith('#') or stripped_line == '':
-        continue
-      ignore_patterns.add(stripped_line)
+  for line in gclient_utils.FileRead(yapfignore_file).split('\n'):
+    stripped_line = line.strip()
+    # Comments and blank lines should be ignored.
+    if stripped_line.startswith('#') or stripped_line == '':
+      continue
+    ignore_patterns.add(stripped_line)
   return ignore_patterns
 
 
diff --git a/tests/git_cl_test.py b/tests/git_cl_test.py
index 623bdccf2..e93fecc5a 100755
--- a/tests/git_cl_test.py
+++ b/tests/git_cl_test.py
@@ -3947,8 +3947,8 @@ class CMDFormatTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     super(CMDFormatTestCase, self).tearDown()
 
   def _make_temp_file(self, fname, contents):
-    with open(os.path.join(self._top_dir, fname), 'w') as tf:
-      tf.write('\n'.join(contents))
+    gclient_utils.FileWrite(os.path.join(self._top_dir, fname),
+                            ('\n'.join(contents)))
 
   def _make_yapfignore(self, contents):
     self._make_temp_file('.yapfignore', contents)
@@ -4063,6 +4063,18 @@ class CMDFormatTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
     ]
     self._check_yapf_filtering(files, expected)
 
+  def testYapfHandleUtf8(self):
+    self._make_yapfignore(['test.py', 'test_🌐.py'])
+    files = [
+      'test.py',
+      'test_🌐.py',
+      'test2.py',
+    ]
+    expected = [
+      'test2.py',
+    ]
+    self._check_yapf_filtering(files, expected)
+
   def testYapfignoreBlankLines(self):
     self._make_yapfignore(['test.py', '', '', 'test2.py'])
     files = [