diff --git a/tools/redditcrawl.py b/tools/redditcrawl.py
index 44b234c0..ee4e8ac9 100755
--- a/tools/redditcrawl.py
+++ b/tools/redditcrawl.py
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 import json
 import time
 
-outfile = open('temp_atlas.json', 'w')
-failfile = open('manual_atlas.json', 'w')
+outfile = open('temp_atlas.json', 'w', encoding='utf-8')
+failfile = open('manual_atlas.json', 'w', encoding='utf-8')
 
 credentials = open('credentials', 'r')
 client_id = credentials.readline().strip(' \t\n\r')
@@ -71,4 +71,4 @@
 		print("written "+submission.id+" submitted "+str(round(time.time()-submission.created_utc))+" seconds ago")
 		successcount += 1
 
-print(f"\n\nSuccess: {successcount}\nFail: {failcount}\nPlease check manual_atlas.txt for failed entries to manually resolve.")
\ No newline at end of file
+print(f"\n\nSuccess: {successcount}\nFail: {failcount}\nPlease check manual_atlas.txt for failed entries to manually resolve.")