diff --git a/gramps/gen/plug/_options.py b/gramps/gen/plug/_options.py
index fa96b5509..c04810698 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/plug/_options.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/plug/_options.py
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ General option handling, including saving and parsing.
 from __future__ import print_function
 
 import os
-import io
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #
@@ -199,7 +198,7 @@ class OptionListCollection(object):
         """
         Saves the current OptionListCollection to the associated file.
         """
-        f = io.open(self.filename, "w", encoding='utf-8')
+        f = open(self.filename,"w")
         f.write("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>\n")
         f.write('<options>\n')
 
diff --git a/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py b/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py
index 16d99bf50..08aa49883 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/plug/_pluginreg.py
@@ -1083,7 +1083,7 @@ class PluginRegister(object):
             full_filename = os.path.join(dir, filename)
             if sys.version_info[0] < 3:
                 full_filename = full_filename.encode(glocale.getfilesystemencoding())
-                fd = open(full_filename, 'r')
+                fd = open(full_filename, "r")
             else:
                 fd = io.open(full_filename, 'r', encoding = 'utf-8')
             stream = fd.read()
diff --git a/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/stylesheet.py b/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/stylesheet.py
index 016de3b4b..d4e372dd0 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/stylesheet.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/plug/docgen/stylesheet.py
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 import os
 from xml.sax.saxutils import escape
-import io
 
 def escxml(string):
     """
@@ -149,7 +148,7 @@ class StyleSheetList(object):
         """
         Saves the current StyleSheet definitions to the associated file.
         """
-        xml_file = io.open(self.__file, "w", encoding='utf-8')
+        xml_file = open(self.__file, "w")
         xml_file.write("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n")
         xml_file.write('<stylelist>\n')
         
@@ -212,7 +211,7 @@ class StyleSheetList(object):
             if os.path.isfile(self.__file):
                 parser = make_parser()
                 parser.setContentHandler(SheetParser(self))
-                the_file = io.open(self.__file, encoding='utf-8')
+                the_file = open(self.__file)
                 parser.parse(the_file)
                 the_file.close()
         except (IOError, OSError, SAXParseException):
diff --git a/gramps/gen/plug/report/_book.py b/gramps/gen/plug/report/_book.py
index 7279d137c..bb37ead68 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/plug/report/_book.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/plug/report/_book.py
@@ -31,8 +31,6 @@
 # Standard Python modules
 #
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-import os
-import io
 from ...const import GRAMPS_LOCALE as glocale
 _ = glocale.get_translation().gettext
 
@@ -43,6 +41,7 @@ _ = glocale.get_translation().gettext
 #------------------------------------------------------------------------
 import logging
 log = logging.getLogger(".Book")
+import os
 
 #-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 #
@@ -319,7 +318,7 @@ class BookList(object):
         """
         Saves the current BookList to the associated file.
         """
-        f = io.open(self.file, "w", encoding='utf-8')
+        f = open(self.file, "w")
         f.write("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>\n")
         f.write('<booklist>\n')
         for name in sorted(self.bookmap): # enable a diff of archived copies
@@ -371,7 +370,7 @@ class BookList(object):
         try:
             p = make_parser()
             p.setContentHandler(BookParser(self, self.dbase))
-            the_file = io.open(self.file, encoding='utf-8')
+            the_file = open(self.file)
             p.parse(the_file)
             the_file.close()
         except (IOError, OSError, ValueError, SAXParseException, KeyError,
diff --git a/gramps/gen/plug/report/_options.py b/gramps/gen/plug/report/_options.py
index 379b89f58..7f13996f0 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/plug/report/_options.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/plug/report/_options.py
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ Report option handling, including saving and parsing.
 import os
 import copy
 from xml.sax.saxutils import escape
-import io
 
 def escxml(d):
     return escape(d, { '"' : '&quot;' } )
@@ -476,7 +475,7 @@ class OptionListCollection(_options.OptionListCollection):
             if os.path.isfile(self.filename):
                 p = make_parser()
                 p.setContentHandler(OptionParser(self))
-                the_file = io.open(self.filename, encoding = 'utf-8')
+                the_file = open(self.filename)
                 p.parse(the_file)
                 the_file.close()
         except (IOError, OSError, SAXParseException):
@@ -966,7 +965,7 @@ class DocOptionListCollection(_options.OptionListCollection):
             if os.path.isfile(self.filename):
                 p = make_parser()
                 p.setContentHandler(DocOptionParser(self))
-                the_file = io.open(self.filename, encoding = 'utf-8')
+                the_file = open(self.filename)
                 p.parse(the_file)
                 the_file.close()
         except (IOError, OSError, SAXParseException):