diff --git a/core/TESTS/test_imports.py b/core/TESTS/test_imports.py
index 1416556..4b35422 100644
--- a/core/TESTS/test_imports.py
+++ b/core/TESTS/test_imports.py
@@ -120,6 +120,16 @@ class SubprocessTest(TestCase):
     def tearDown(self):
         pass
 
+    def test_utf8(self):
+        '''Expects that utf8 is the default encoding when opening files
+        '''
+        import sys
+        import locale
+        self.assertTrue( sys.getdefaultencoding() == "utf-8", f'{sys.getdefaultencoding()} - UTF8 error in getdefaultencoding')
+        self.assertTrue( sys.getfilesystemencoding() == "utf-8", f'{sys.getfilesystemencoding()} - UTF8 error in getfilesystemencoding')
+        self.assertTrue( locale.getdefaultlocale()[1] == "UTF-8", f'{locale.getdefaultlocale()} - UTF8 error in locale.getdefaultlocale')
+        self.assertTrue( locale.getpreferredencoding() == "UTF-8", f'{locale.getpreferredencoding()} - UTF8 error in locale.getpreferredencoding')
+        
     def test_installs(self):
         ''' Expects external software installed: cavern, survexport, git
         (but not whether it actually works)