diff --git a/files/fimplate.py b/files/fimplate.py
index aac7062..9f0a614 100755
--- a/files/fimplate.py
+++ b/files/fimplate.py
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     if options.template == None:
         in_reader = sys.stdin
     else:
-        in_reader = open(options.template, "rb")
+        in_reader = open(options.template, "rt")
     for l in in_reader:
         for p in pairs:
             value = p[1]
@@ -96,9 +96,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                     value = open(value[1:], "rt").read()
                 elif value[0:2] == "\\@":
                     value = value[1:]
-            l = l.replace(p[0].encode("utf-8"), value.encode("utf-8"))
+            l = l.replace(p[0], value)
         if options.env:
             var_list = [m.group(0) for m in re.finditer("\${[^ ]+}", l)]
             for v in var_list:
                 l = l.replace(v, os.environ.get(v[:-1][2:], ""))
-        sys.stdout.write(l.decode("utf-8"))
+        sys.stdout.write(l)