diff --git a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
index c039f5aa75a..abfb34dfb81 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_tarfile.py
@@ -1795,7 +1795,7 @@ class UstarUnicodeTest(UnicodeTest, unittest.TestCase):
                 self.assertRaises(exc, tar.addfile, t)
 
         if exc is None:
-            with tarfile.open(tmpname, "r") as tar:
+            with tarfile.open(tmpname, "r", encoding="utf-8") as tar:
                 for t in tar:
                     self.assertEqual(name, t.name)
                     break
@@ -1821,7 +1821,7 @@ class UstarUnicodeTest(UnicodeTest, unittest.TestCase):
                 self.assertRaises(exc, tar.addfile, t)
 
         if exc is None:
-            with tarfile.open(tmpname, "r") as tar:
+            with tarfile.open(tmpname, "r", encoding="utf-8") as tar:
                 for t in tar:
                     self.assertEqual(name, t.linkname)
                     break