diff --git a/update_checker.py b/update_checker.py
index 7bea2736b413551e71e3323e14ebb3b457e6ba7b..9aa51340c1914431941844392e62a479b03e4c55 100755
--- a/update_checker.py
+++ b/update_checker.py
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ json.dump(allFirmwareDownloads,open("firmwareDownloads.json","w"),sort_keys=True
 nodesdbFilename = "/home/www/html/netinfo/json/nodesdb.json"
 if not os.path.isfile(nodesdbFilename):
     nodesdbFilename = "nodesdb.json"
-data = json.load(open(nodesdbFilename))
+data = json.load(open(nodesdbFilename, encoding='utf-8'))
 
 for download in allFirmwareDownloads:
     try: