diff --git a/gclient_utils.py b/gclient_utils.py
index 35f8b3bf4..9ba6da50c 100644
--- a/gclient_utils.py
+++ b/gclient_utils.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 """Generic utils."""
 
+import codecs
 import errno
 import logging
 import os
@@ -76,21 +77,13 @@ class PrintableObject(object):
 
 
 def FileRead(filename, mode='rU'):
-  content = None
-  f = open(filename, mode)
-  try:
-    content = f.read()
-  finally:
-    f.close()
-  return content
+  with codecs.open(filename, mode=mode, encoding='utf-8') as f:
+    return f.read()
 
 
 def FileWrite(filename, content, mode='w'):
-  f = open(filename, mode)
-  try:
+  with codecs.open(filename, mode=mode, encoding='utf-8') as f:
     f.write(content)
-  finally:
-    f.close()
 
 
 def rmtree(path):
diff --git a/tests/gclient_utils_test.py b/tests/gclient_utils_test.py
index 9f01c5d1e..d5c0c4ba3 100755
--- a/tests/gclient_utils_test.py
+++ b/tests/gclient_utils_test.py
@@ -37,9 +37,9 @@ class GclientUtilsUnittest(GclientUtilBase):
         'PrintableObject', 'RemoveDirectory', 'RunEditor',
         'SplitUrlRevision', 'SyntaxErrorToError',
         'UpgradeToHttps', 'Wrapper', 'WorkItem',
-        'errno', 'lockedmethod', 'logging', 'os', 'Queue', 're', 'rmtree',
-        'safe_makedirs', 'stat', 'subprocess2', 'sys', 'tempfile', 'threading',
-        'time', 'urlparse',
+        'codecs', 'errno', 'lockedmethod', 'logging', 'os', 'Queue', 're',
+        'rmtree', 'safe_makedirs', 'stat', 'subprocess2', 'sys', 'tempfile',
+        'threading', 'time', 'urlparse',
     ]
     # If this test fails, you should add the relevant test.
     self.compareMembers(gclient_utils, members)