diff --git a/homeassistant/components/http.py b/homeassistant/components/http.py
index 3ccf92daea2d81..0baa7dd177cb1b 100644
--- a/homeassistant/components/http.py
+++ b/homeassistant/components/http.py
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ def file(self, request, fil, mimetype=None):
                 mimetype = mimetypes.guess_type(fil)[0]
 
             try:
-                fil = open(fil)
+                fil = open(fil, mode='br')
             except IOError:
                 raise NotFound()
 
diff --git a/tests/components/test_api.py b/tests/components/test_api.py
index 66fb97dfd33392..60ff19d4a4322e 100644
--- a/tests/components/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/components/test_api.py
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ def test_api_get_components(self):
 
     def test_api_get_error_log(self):
         """Test the return of the error log."""
-        test_content = 'Test String'
+        test_content = 'Test String°'
         with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as log:
             log.write(test_content.encode('utf-8'))
             log.flush()