diff --git a/test/runjsontests.py b/test/runjsontests.py
index 9422d57..7243063 100644
--- a/test/runjsontests.py
+++ b/test/runjsontests.py
@@ -1,12 +1,30 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+from io import open
+from glob import glob
 import sys
 import os
 import os.path
-from glob import glob
 import optparse
 
 VALGRIND_CMD = 'valgrind --tool=memcheck --leak-check=yes --undef-value-errors=yes '
 
+def getStatusOutput(cmd):
+    """
+    Return int, unicode (for both Python 2 and 3).
+    Note: os.popen().close() would return None for 0.
+    """
+    pipe = os.popen(cmd)
+    process_output = pipe.read()
+    try:
+        # We have been using os.popen(). When we read() the result
+        # we get 'str' (bytes) in py2, and 'str' (unicode) in py3.
+        # Ugh! There must be a better way to handle this.
+        process_output = process_output.decode('utf-8')
+    except AttributeError:
+        pass  # python3
+    status = pipe.close()
+    return status, process_output
 def compareOutputs( expected, actual, message ):
     expected = expected.strip().replace('\r','').split('\n')
     actual = actual.strip().replace('\r','').split('\n')
@@ -34,7 +52,7 @@ def compareOutputs( expected, actual, message ):
         
 def safeReadFile( path ):
     try:
-        return file( path, 'rt' ).read()
+        return open( path, 'rt', encoding = 'utf-8' ).read()
     except IOError as e:
         return '<File "%s" is missing: %s>' % (path,e)
 
@@ -54,21 +72,20 @@ def runAllTests( jsontest_executable_path, input_dir = None,
         is_json_checker_test = (input_path in test_jsonchecker) or expect_failure
         print('TESTING:', input_path, end=' ')
         options = is_json_checker_test and '--json-checker' or ''
-        pipe = os.popen( '%s%s %s "%s"' % (
+        cmd = '%s%s %s "%s"' % (
             valgrind_path, jsontest_executable_path, options,
-            input_path) )
-        process_output = pipe.read()
-        status = pipe.close()
+            input_path)
+        status, process_output = getStatusOutput(cmd)
         if is_json_checker_test:
             if expect_failure:
-                if status is None:
+                if not status:
                     print('FAILED')
                     failed_tests.append( (input_path, 'Parsing should have failed:\n%s' %
                                           safeReadFile(input_path)) )
                 else:
                     print('OK')
             else:
-                if status is not None:
+                if status:
                     print('FAILED')
                     failed_tests.append( (input_path, 'Parsing failed:\n' + process_output) )
                 else:
@@ -77,13 +94,13 @@ def runAllTests( jsontest_executable_path, input_dir = None,
             base_path = os.path.splitext(input_path)[0]
             actual_output = safeReadFile( base_path + '.actual' )
             actual_rewrite_output = safeReadFile( base_path + '.actual-rewrite' )
-            file(base_path + '.process-output','wt').write( process_output )
+            open(base_path + '.process-output', 'wt', encoding = 'utf-8').write( process_output )
             if status:
                 print('parsing failed')
                 failed_tests.append( (input_path, 'Parsing failed:\n' + process_output) )
             else:
                 expected_output_path = os.path.splitext(input_path)[0] + '.expected'
-                expected_output = file( expected_output_path, 'rt' ).read()
+                expected_output = open( expected_output_path, 'rt', encoding = 'utf-8' ).read()
                 detail = ( compareOutputs( expected_output, actual_output, 'input' )
                             or compareOutputs( expected_output, actual_rewrite_output, 'rewrite' ) )
                 if detail:
diff --git a/test/rununittests.py b/test/rununittests.py
index 6279f80..54c4da4 100644
--- a/test/rununittests.py
+++ b/test/rununittests.py
@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import print_function
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+from io import open
 from glob import glob
 import sys
 import os
@@ -19,7 +21,11 @@ class TestProxy(object):
         else:
             cmd = []
         cmd.extend( [self.test_exe_path, '--test-auto'] + options )
-        process = subprocess.Popen( cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT )
+        try:
+            process = subprocess.Popen( cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT )
+        except:
+            print(cmd)
+            raise
         stdout = process.communicate()[0]
         if process.returncode:
             return False, stdout
@@ -31,7 +37,7 @@ def runAllTests( exe_path, use_valgrind=False ):
     if not status:
         print("Failed to obtain unit tests list:\n" + test_names, file=sys.stderr)
         return 1
-    test_names = [name.strip() for name in test_names.strip().split('\n')]
+    test_names = [name.strip() for name in test_names.decode('utf-8').strip().split('\n')]
     failures = []
     for name in test_names:
         print('TESTING %s:' % name, end=' ')