diff --git a/lib/cookie.c b/lib/cookie.c
index 012792605a20c0..fd7ed4168f9c0b 100644
--- a/lib/cookie.c
+++ b/lib/cookie.c
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ struct CookieInfo *Curl_cookie_init(struct SessionHandle *data,
     fp = NULL;
   }
   else
-    fp = file?fopen(file, "r"):NULL;
+    fp = file?fopen(file, FOPEN_READTEXT):NULL;
 
   c->newsession = newsession; /* new session? */
 
@@ -1262,7 +1262,7 @@ static int cookie_output(struct CookieInfo *c, const char *dumphere)
     use_stdout=TRUE;
   }
   else {
-    out = fopen(dumphere, "w");
+    out = fopen(dumphere, FOPEN_WRITETEXT);
     if(!out)
       return 1; /* failure */
   }
diff --git a/lib/curl_setup.h b/lib/curl_setup.h
index 9c7cc07ebef42a..cbec34f26f9089 100644
--- a/lib/curl_setup.h
+++ b/lib/curl_setup.h
@@ -707,4 +707,24 @@ int netware_init(void);
 #define S_ISDIR(m) (((m) & S_IFMT) == S_IFDIR)
 #endif
 
+/* In Windows the default file mode is text but an application can override it.
+Therefore we specify it explicitly. https://github.com/bagder/curl/pull/258
+*/
+#if defined(WIN32)
+#define FOPEN_READTEXT "rt"
+#define FOPEN_WRITETEXT "wt"
+#elif defined(__CYGWIN__)
+/* Cygwin has specific behavior we need to address when WIN32 is not defined.
+https://cygwin.com/cygwin-ug-net/using-textbinary.html
+For write we want our output to have line endings of LF and be compatible with
+other Cygwin utilities. For read we want to handle input that may have line
+endings either CRLF or LF so 't' is appropriate.
+*/
+#define FOPEN_READTEXT "rt"
+#define FOPEN_WRITETEXT "w"
+#else
+#define FOPEN_READTEXT "r"
+#define FOPEN_WRITETEXT "w"
+#endif
+
 #endif /* HEADER_CURL_SETUP_H */
diff --git a/lib/memdebug.c b/lib/memdebug.c
index 3b38a749259ed6..dd8889b2db13ff 100644
--- a/lib/memdebug.c
+++ b/lib/memdebug.c
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ void curl_memdebug(const char *logname)
 {
   if(!logfile) {
     if(logname && *logname)
-      logfile = fopen(logname, "w");
+      logfile = fopen(logname, FOPEN_WRITETEXT);
     else
       logfile = stderr;
 #ifdef MEMDEBUG_LOG_SYNC
diff --git a/lib/netrc.c b/lib/netrc.c
index 97a07b88e2da8d..06f8ea15a41ac6 100644
--- a/lib/netrc.c
+++ b/lib/netrc.c
@@ -109,11 +109,7 @@ int Curl_parsenetrc(const char *host,
     netrc_alloc = TRUE;
   }
 
-#ifdef __CYGWIN__
-  file = fopen(netrcfile, "rt");
-#else
-  file = fopen(netrcfile, "r");
-#endif
+  file = fopen(netrcfile, FOPEN_READTEXT);
   if(netrc_alloc)
     free(netrcfile);
   if(file) {
diff --git a/lib/vtls/gtls.c b/lib/vtls/gtls.c
index d6eb6c445e0f9b..1db31e40c253c8 100644
--- a/lib/vtls/gtls.c
+++ b/lib/vtls/gtls.c
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ static gnutls_datum_t load_file (const char *file)
   long filelen;
   void *ptr;
 
-  if(!(f = fopen(file, "r")))
+  if(!(f = fopen(file, "rb")))
     return loaded_file;
   if(fseek(f, 0, SEEK_END) != 0
      || (filelen = ftell(f)) < 0
diff --git a/lib/vtls/openssl.c b/lib/vtls/openssl.c
index 96a7d6e89c5c1c..eb2cf5bf57b3c7 100644
--- a/lib/vtls/openssl.c
+++ b/lib/vtls/openssl.c
@@ -2725,7 +2725,7 @@ static CURLcode servercert(struct connectdata *conn,
 
     /* e.g. match issuer name with provided issuer certificate */
     if(data->set.str[STRING_SSL_ISSUERCERT]) {
-      fp = fopen(data->set.str[STRING_SSL_ISSUERCERT], "r");
+      fp = fopen(data->set.str[STRING_SSL_ISSUERCERT], FOPEN_READTEXT);
       if(!fp) {
         if(strict)
           failf(data, "SSL: Unable to open issuer cert (%s)",
diff --git a/src/tool_cb_dbg.c b/src/tool_cb_dbg.c
index 0fe0f13475e2f0..f52714683c5cb3 100644
--- a/src/tool_cb_dbg.c
+++ b/src/tool_cb_dbg.c
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ int tool_debug_cb(CURL *handle, curl_infotype type,
       /* Ok, this is somewhat hackish but we do it undocumented for now */
       config->trace_stream = config->errors;  /* aka stderr */
     else {
-      config->trace_stream = fopen(config->trace_dump, "w");
+      config->trace_stream = fopen(config->trace_dump, FOPEN_WRITETEXT);
       config->trace_fopened = TRUE;
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/tool_easysrc.c b/src/tool_easysrc.c
index e1336c3d9dad53..0482ef6ae95bf2 100644
--- a/src/tool_easysrc.c
+++ b/src/tool_easysrc.c
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ void dumpeasysrc(struct GlobalConfig *config)
     FILE *out;
     bool fopened = FALSE;
     if(strcmp(o, "-")) {
-      out = fopen(o, "w");
+      out = fopen(o, FOPEN_WRITETEXT);
       fopened = TRUE;
     }
     else
diff --git a/src/tool_getparam.c b/src/tool_getparam.c
index 62283a5dd3d4a1..c86e6b4b11df4e 100644
--- a/src/tool_getparam.c
+++ b/src/tool_getparam.c
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ ParameterError getparameter(char *flag,    /* f or -long-flag */
 
       case 'v': /* --stderr */
         if(strcmp(nextarg, "-")) {
-          FILE *newfile = fopen(nextarg, "wt");
+          FILE *newfile = fopen(nextarg, FOPEN_WRITETEXT);
           if(!newfile)
             warnf(global, "Failed to open %s!\n", nextarg);
           else {
@@ -1748,7 +1748,7 @@ ParameterError getparameter(char *flag,    /* f or -long-flag */
         }
         else {
           fname = nextarg;
-          file = fopen(nextarg, "r");
+          file = fopen(nextarg, FOPEN_READTEXT);
         }
         err = file2string(&config->writeout, file);
         if(file && (file != stdin))
diff --git a/src/tool_parsecfg.c b/src/tool_parsecfg.c
index 4c25ddbd511a1e..39b43eef43e944 100644
--- a/src/tool_parsecfg.c
+++ b/src/tool_parsecfg.c
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ int parseconfig(const char *filename, struct GlobalConfig *global)
         /* Check if the file exists - if not, try CURLRC in the same
          * directory as our executable
          */
-        file = fopen(filebuffer, "r");
+        file = fopen(filebuffer, FOPEN_READTEXT);
         if(file != NULL) {
           fclose(file);
           filename = filebuffer;
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ int parseconfig(const char *filename, struct GlobalConfig *global)
   }
 
   if(strcmp(filename, "-"))
-    file = fopen(filename, "r");
+    file = fopen(filename, FOPEN_READTEXT);
   else
     file = stdin;