diff --git a/src/opnsense/service/configd.py b/src/opnsense/service/configd.py
index cfbb45db6..d3cd5126c 100755
--- a/src/opnsense/service/configd.py
+++ b/src/opnsense/service/configd.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/local/bin/python2.7
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
 """
     Copyright (c) 2014 Ad Schellevis
diff --git a/src/opnsense/service/modules/template.py b/src/opnsense/service/modules/template.py
index 9db3912e1..f25a27df2 100644
--- a/src/opnsense/service/modules/template.py
+++ b/src/opnsense/service/modules/template.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import os.path
 import syslog
 import collections
 import copy
+import codecs
 import jinja2
 import addons.template_helpers
 
@@ -264,7 +265,7 @@ class Template(object):
                             # make sure the target directory exists
                             self._create_directory(filename)
 
-                        f_out = open(filename, 'wb')
+                        f_out = codecs.open(filename, 'wb', encoding="utf-8")
                         f_out.write(content)
                         # Check if the last character of our output contains an end-of-line, if not copy it in if
                         # it was in the original template.