diff --git a/PLUGINS.md b/PLUGINS.md
index ef21e224..01a4632e 100644
--- a/PLUGINS.md
+++ b/PLUGINS.md
@@ -170,6 +170,8 @@ To package your plugin for distribution simply create a `.zip` archive of your p
 
 If there are any external dependencies then include them in the plugin's folder.
 
+Optionally, for tidiness delete any `.pyc` and `.pyo` files in the archive.
+
 # Disable a plugin
 
 EDMC now lets you disable a plugin without deleting it, simply rename the plugin folder to append ".disabled". Eg,
diff --git a/plug.py b/plug.py
index 4ad9e626..d4f6ada6 100644
--- a/plug.py
+++ b/plug.py
@@ -41,7 +41,8 @@ class Plugin(object):
         if loadfile:
             sys.stdout.write('loading plugin %s from "%s"\n' % (name, loadfile.encode('utf-8')))
             with open(loadfile, 'rb') as plugfile:
-                module = imp.load_module('plugin_%s' % name, plugfile, '', ('.py', 'r', imp.PY_SOURCE))
+                module = imp.load_module('plugin_%s' % name, plugfile, loadfile.encode(sys.getfilesystemencoding()),
+                                         ('.py', 'r', imp.PY_SOURCE))
                 newname = module.plugin_start()
                 self.name = newname and unicode(newname) or name
                 self.module = module