diff --git a/gluon/shell.py b/gluon/shell.py
index e6cb9823..eb4df8fe 100644
--- a/gluon/shell.py
+++ b/gluon/shell.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ logger = logging.getLogger("web2py")
 
 if not PY2:
     def execfile(filename, global_vars=None, local_vars=None):
-        with open(filename) as f:
+        with open(filename, "rb") as f:
             code = compile(f.read(), filename, 'exec')
             exec(code, global_vars, local_vars)
     raw_input = input