diff --git a/posenet/converter/tfjs2python.py b/posenet/converter/tfjs2python.py
index 9745b2d..649fb43 100755
--- a/posenet/converter/tfjs2python.py
+++ b/posenet/converter/tfjs2python.py
@@ -50,9 +50,8 @@ def load_variables(chkpoint, base_dir=BASE_DIR):
         download(chkpoint, base_dir)
         assert os.path.exists(manifest_path)
 
-    f = open(manifest_path)
-    variables = json.load(f)
-    f.close()
+    with open(manifest_path) as f:
+        variables = json.load(f)
 
     # with tf.variable_scope(None, 'MobilenetV1'):
     for x in variables:
diff --git a/posenet/converter/wget.py b/posenet/converter/wget.py
index 51f1d96..9de0a5d 100644
--- a/posenet/converter/wget.py
+++ b/posenet/converter/wget.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import urllib.request
 import posixpath
 import json
+import zlib
 import os
 
 from posenet.converter.config import load_config
@@ -12,8 +13,18 @@
 
 
 def download_file(checkpoint, filename, base_dir):
+    output_path = os.path.join(base_dir, checkpoint, filename)
     url = posixpath.join(GOOGLE_CLOUD_STORAGE_DIR, checkpoint, filename)
-    urllib.request.urlretrieve(url, os.path.join(base_dir, checkpoint, filename))
+    req = urllib.request.Request(url)
+    response = urllib.request.urlopen(req)
+    if response.info().get('Content-Encoding') == 'gzip':
+        data = zlib.decompress(response.read(), zlib.MAX_WBITS | 32)
+    else:
+        # this path not tested since gzip encoding default on google server
+        # may need additional encoding/text handling if hit in the future
+        data = response.read()
+    with open(output_path, 'wb') as f:
+        f.write(data)
 
 
 def download(checkpoint, base_dir='./weights/'):
@@ -22,9 +33,8 @@ def download(checkpoint, base_dir='./weights/'):
         os.makedirs(save_dir)
 
     download_file(checkpoint, 'manifest.json', base_dir)
-
-    f = open(os.path.join(save_dir, 'manifest.json'), 'r')
-    json_dict = json.load(f)
+    with open(os.path.join(save_dir, 'manifest.json'), 'r') as f:
+        json_dict = json.load(f)
 
     for x in json_dict:
         filename = json_dict[x]['filename']