diff --git a/news/1399.bugfix b/news/1399.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..73f27cb6fac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/1399.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix unicode filename issues on Windows
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py b/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py
index 93b4768622a..6b390a78a28 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/wheel.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import compileall
 import csv
 import hashlib
+import io
 import logging
 import os.path
 import re
@@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ def rehash(path, blocksize=1 << 20):
     return (digest, str(length))  # type: ignore
 
 
-def open_for_csv(name, mode):
+def open_for_csv(name, mode, encoding='utf8'):
     # type: (str, Text) -> IO
     if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
         nl = {}  # type: Dict[str, Any]
@@ -88,7 +89,7 @@ def open_for_csv(name, mode):
     else:
         nl = {'newline': ''}  # type: Dict[str, Any]
         bin = ''
-    return open(name, mode + bin, **nl)
+    return io.open(name, mode + bin, **nl)
 
 
 def replace_python_tag(wheelname, new_tag):
diff --git a/tests/data/src/unicode_files/setup.py b/tests/data/src/unicode_files/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4d391bae2f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/src/unicode_files/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+
+setup(
+    name="வணக்கம்",
+    packages=find_packages(),
+    version='0.0.1',
+    description="A sample unicode project",
+)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git "a/tests/data/src/unicode_files/\340\256\265\340\256\243\340\256\225\340\257\215\340\256\225\340\256\256\340\257\215/__init__.py" "b/tests/data/src/unicode_files/\340\256\265\340\256\243\340\256\225\340\257\215\340\256\225\340\256\256\340\257\215/__init__.py"
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git "a/tests/data/src/unicode_files/\340\256\265\340\256\243\340\256\225\340\257\215\340\256\225\340\256\256\340\257\215/\340\252\250\340\252\256\340\252\270\340\253\215\340\252\244\340\253\207.py" "b/tests/data/src/unicode_files/\340\256\265\340\256\243\340\256\225\340\257\215\340\256\225\340\256\256\340\257\215/\340\252\250\340\252\256\340\252\270\340\253\215\340\252\244\340\253\207.py"
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d