diff --git a/tests/echo_w_prompt.py b/tests/echo_w_prompt.py
index 3c805535..ec904e43 100644
--- a/tests/echo_w_prompt.py
+++ b/tests/echo_w_prompt.py
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 from __future__ import print_function
+import codecs
+import sys
+
+sys.stdout = codecs.getwriter('utf8')(sys.stdout)
+sys.stderr = codecs.getwriter('utf8')(sys.stderr)
+
 
 try:
     raw_input
diff --git a/tests/interact_unicode.py b/tests/interact_unicode.py
index f4c1f550..8d6fa83c 100644
--- a/tests/interact_unicode.py
+++ b/tests/interact_unicode.py
@@ -11,8 +11,12 @@
 
 from utils import no_coverage_env
 import pexpect
+import codecs
 import sys
 
+sys.stdout = codecs.getwriter('utf8')(sys.stdout)
+sys.stderr = codecs.getwriter('utf8')(sys.stderr)
+
 
 def main():
     p = pexpect.spawnu(sys.executable + ' echo_w_prompt.py',