diff --git a/.github/locales.py b/.github/locales.py
index 9ab272b9..7d6d6b90 100644
--- a/.github/locales.py
+++ b/.github/locales.py
@@ -56,8 +56,8 @@ for file in glob.glob(f"{XML_NAME}*/strings.xml"):
             if child.text.startswith("\\@string/"):
                 print(f"[{file}] fixing {child.attrib['name']}")
                 child.text = child.text.replace("\\@string/", "@string/")
-        with open(file, 'w') as fp:
-            fp.write('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>\n')
+        with open(file, 'wb') as fp:
+            fp.write(b'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>\n')
             tree.write(fp, encoding="utf-8", method="xml", pretty_print=True, xml_declaration=False)
     except ET.ParseError as ex:
         print(f"[{file}] {ex}")