diff --git a/@commitlint/read/src/index.js b/@commitlint/read/src/index.js
index 9323a34a48..b9ae72e0b4 100644
--- a/@commitlint/read/src/index.js
+++ b/@commitlint/read/src/index.js
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ async function getEditFilePath(top, edit) {
 		if (dotgitStats.isDirectory()) {
 			editFilePath = path.join(top, '.git/COMMIT_EDITMSG');
 		} else {
-			const gitFile = await sander.readFile(dotgitPath, 'utf8');
+			const gitFile = await sander.readFile(dotgitPath, {encoding: 'utf-8'});
 			const relativeGitPath = gitFile.replace('gitdir: ', '').replace('\n', '');
 			editFilePath = path.resolve(top, relativeGitPath, 'COMMIT_EDITMSG');
 		}