diff --git a/gluon/fileutils.py b/gluon/fileutils.py
index 27fe8a8d..0fa29acf 100644
--- a/gluon/fileutils.py
+++ b/gluon/fileutils.py
@@ -415,10 +415,10 @@ def fix_newlines(path):
 |\r|
 )''')
     for filename in listdir(path, '.*\.(py|html)$', drop=False):
-        rdata = read_file(filename, 'rb')
+        rdata = read_file(filename, 'r')
         wdata = regex.sub('\n', rdata)
         if wdata != rdata:
-            write_file(filename, wdata, 'wb')
+            write_file(filename, wdata, 'w')
 
 
 def copystream(
diff --git a/gluon/tests/test_fileutils.py b/gluon/tests/test_fileutils.py
index 5e408796..a09f5704 100644
--- a/gluon/tests/test_fileutils.py
+++ b/gluon/tests/test_fileutils.py
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 
+import os
 import unittest
 import datetime
 
-from gluon.fileutils import parse_version
+from gluon.fileutils import parse_version, fix_newlines, listdir
 
 
 class TestFileUtils(unittest.TestCase):
@@ -22,3 +23,6 @@ class TestFileUtils(unittest.TestCase):
         # Semantic Beta
         rtn = parse_version('Version 2.14.1-beta+timestamp.2016.03.21.22.35.26')
         self.assertEqual(rtn, (2, 14, 1, 'beta', datetime.datetime(2016, 3, 21, 22, 35, 26)))
+    
+    def test_fix_newlines(self):
+        fix_newlines(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))