diff --git a/wakatime/compat.py b/wakatime/compat.py
index 3abbfa5..ba8f107 100644
--- a/wakatime/compat.py
+++ b/wakatime/compat.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ elif is_py3:  # pragma: nocover
     open = open
     basestring = (str, bytes)
 
+
 try:
     from importlib import import_module
 except ImportError:  # pragma: nocover
diff --git a/wakatime/packages/requests/certs.py b/wakatime/packages/requests/certs.py
index 07e6475..47cc228 100644
--- a/wakatime/packages/requests/certs.py
+++ b/wakatime/packages/requests/certs.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ If you are packaging Requests, e.g., for a Linux distribution or a managed
 environment, you can change the definition of where() to return a separately
 packaged CA bundle.
 """
+import sys
 import os.path
 
 try:
@@ -19,7 +20,13 @@ except ImportError:
     def where():
         """Return the preferred certificate bundle."""
         # vendored bundle inside Requests
-        return os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'cacert.pem')
+        is_py3 = (sys.version_info[0] == 3)
+        certdir = os.path.dirname(
+            __file__
+            if is_py3 else
+            __file__.decode(sys.getfilesystemencoding())
+        )
+        return os.path.join(certdir, 'cacert.pem')
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     print(where())