diff --git a/dbtemplates/management/commands/sync_templates.py b/dbtemplates/management/commands/sync_templates.py
index c4b616b..5a93b4f 100644
--- a/dbtemplates/management/commands/sync_templates.py
+++ b/dbtemplates/management/commands/sync_templates.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+import io
 import os
-import codecs
 from django.contrib.sites.models import Site
 from django.core.management.base import CommandError, BaseCommand
 from django.template.utils import get_app_template_dirs
@@ -87,8 +87,8 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                                 "database.\nCreate it with '%s'?"
                                 " (y/[n]): """ % (name, path))
                         if force or confirm.lower().startswith('y'):
-                            t = Template(name=name,
-                                         content=codecs.open(path, "r").read())
+                            with io.open(path, encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                                t = Template(name=name, content=f.read())
                             t.save()
                             t.sites.add(site)
                     else:
@@ -105,9 +105,10 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                             if confirm in ('', FILES_TO_DATABASE,
                                            DATABASE_TO_FILES):
                                 if confirm == FILES_TO_DATABASE:
-                                    t.content = codecs.open(path, 'r').read()
-                                    t.save()
-                                    t.sites.add(site)
+                                    with io.open(path, encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                                        t.content = f.read()
+                                        t.save()
+                                        t.sites.add(site)
                                     if delete:
                                         try:
                                             os.remove(path)
@@ -115,11 +116,8 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                                             raise CommandError(
                                                 u"Couldn't delete %s" % path)
                                 elif confirm == DATABASE_TO_FILES:
-                                    f = codecs.open(path, 'w', 'utf-8')
-                                    try:
+                                    with io.open(path, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                                         f.write(t.content)
-                                    finally:
-                                        f.close()
                                     if delete:
                                         t.delete()
                                 break
diff --git a/dbtemplates/test_cases.py b/dbtemplates/test_cases.py
index 67a6ddb..4229418 100644
--- a/dbtemplates/test_cases.py
+++ b/dbtemplates/test_cases.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import codecs
+import io
 import os
 import shutil
 import tempfile
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class DbTemplatesTestCase(TestCase):
         old_template_dirs = settings.TEMPLATES[0].get('DIRS', [])
         temp_template_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp('dbtemplates')
         temp_template_path = os.path.join(temp_template_dir, 'temp_test.html')
-        temp_template = codecs.open(temp_template_path, 'w')
+        temp_template = io.open(temp_template_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8')
         try:
             temp_template.write('temp test')
             settings.TEMPLATES[0]['DIRS'] = (temp_template_dir,)
@@ -124,7 +124,8 @@ class DbTemplatesTestCase(TestCase):
             call_command('sync_templates', force=True,
                          verbosity=0, overwrite=DATABASE_TO_FILES)
             self.assertTrue(
-                'modified' in codecs.open(temp_template_path, 'utf-8').read().decode('utf-8'))
+                'modified' in io.open(temp_template_path,
+                                      encoding='utf-8').read().decode('utf-8'))
 
             call_command('sync_templates', force=True, verbosity=0,
                          delete=True, overwrite=DATABASE_TO_FILES)
diff --git a/requirements/tests.txt b/requirements/tests.txt
index 630566f..25152de 100644
--- a/requirements/tests.txt
+++ b/requirements/tests.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
-flake8<3
+flake8
 coverage
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 73d13e1..e4c532f 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import ast
 import os
-import codecs
+import io
 from setuptools import setup, find_packages
 
 
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ class VersionFinder(ast.NodeVisitor):
 
 def read(*parts):
     filename = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), *parts)
-    with codecs.open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as fp:
+    with io.open(filename, encoding='utf-8') as fp:
         return fp.read()