diff --git a/src/client/common/process/proc.ts b/src/client/common/process/proc.ts
index 5bd3b816e956..959d9b615f39 100644
--- a/src/client/common/process/proc.ts
+++ b/src/client/common/process/proc.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@ export class ProcessService implements IProcessService {
 
         // Always ensure we have unbuffered output.
         spawnOptions.env.PYTHONUNBUFFERED = '1';
+        if (!spawnOptions.env.PYTHONIOENCODING) {
+            spawnOptions.env.PYTHONIOENCODING = 'utf-8';
+        }
 
         const proc = spawn(file, args, spawnOptions);
         let procExited = false;
@@ -78,7 +81,9 @@ export class ProcessService implements IProcessService {
 
         // Always ensure we have unbuffered output.
         spawnOptions.env.PYTHONUNBUFFERED = '1';
-
+        if (!spawnOptions.env.PYTHONIOENCODING) {
+            spawnOptions.env.PYTHONIOENCODING = 'utf-8';
+        }
         const proc = spawn(file, args, spawnOptions);
         const deferred = createDeferred<ExecutionResult<string>>();
         const disposables: Disposable[] = [];
diff --git a/src/test/common/process/proc.exec.test.ts b/src/test/common/process/proc.exec.test.ts
index 32091f5a9ab7..8ab71804d3d2 100644
--- a/src/test/common/process/proc.exec.test.ts
+++ b/src/test/common/process/proc.exec.test.ts
@@ -32,6 +32,16 @@ suite('ProcessService', () => {
         expect(result.stderr).to.equal(undefined, 'stderr not undefined');
     });
 
+    test('exec should output print unicode characters', async () => {
+        const procService = new ProcessService(new BufferDecoder());
+        const printOutput = 'öä';
+        const result = await procService.exec(pythonPath, ['-c', `print(u"${printOutput}")`]);
+
+        expect(result).not.to.be.an('undefined', 'result is undefined');
+        expect(result.stdout.trim()).to.be.equal(printOutput, 'Invalid output');
+        expect(result.stderr).to.equal(undefined, 'stderr not undefined');
+    });
+
     test('exec should wait for completion of program with new lines', async function () {
         // tslint:disable-next-line:no-invalid-this
         this.timeout(5000);