diff --git a/etags.py b/etags.py
index 47b7c6c..cd9cf68 100644
--- a/etags.py
+++ b/etags.py
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ class TagManager(object):
         args    = ['ctags', '-e', '-f', self.path, lf, '-L-']
         pipe    = Popen(args, stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=STDOUT)
         indata  = '\n'.join(self.get_paths()) + '\n'
-        outdata = pipe.communicate(indata)
+        #outdata = pipe.communicate(indata) # need this as bytes
+        bytes = indata.encode('UTF-8')
+        outbytes, errbytes = pipe.communicate(bytes) # need this as bytes
+        outdata = outbytes.decode('UTF-8')
         if pipe.returncode != 0:
             raise EtagsRunError(outdata)
 
@@ -88,7 +91,7 @@ class Etags(object):
         self.tags = {}
 
     def _load(self):
-        fd = file(self.fname, 'r')
+        fd = open(self.fname, 'r')
         self.rawdata = fd.read()
         fd.close()