diff --git a/Lib/email/test/test_email.py b/Lib/email/test/test_email.py
index 926c6bf5867..5bbb79416b5 100644
--- a/Lib/email/test/test_email.py
+++ b/Lib/email/test/test_email.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ warnings.filterwarnings('ignore', '', DeprecationWarning, __name__)
 
 def openfile(filename):
     path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(landmark), 'data', filename)
-    return open(path, 'rb')
+    return open(path, 'r')
 
 
 
diff --git a/Lib/email/test/test_email_torture.py b/Lib/email/test/test_email_torture.py
index 76d66a9ba71..8d58b463b4c 100644
--- a/Lib/email/test/test_email_torture.py
+++ b/Lib/email/test/test_email_torture.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from email.Iterators import _structure
 def openfile(filename):
     from os.path import join, dirname, abspath
     path = abspath(join(dirname(testfile), os.pardir, 'moredata', filename))
-    return open(path, 'rb')
+    return open(path, 'r')
 
 # Prevent this test from running in the Python distro
 try: