diff --git a/pip/download.py b/pip/download.py
index dac0b3a1e..3cacdfba0 100644
--- a/pip/download.py
+++ b/pip/download.py
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ from pip.models import PyPI
 from pip.utils import (splitext, rmtree, format_size, display_path,
                        backup_dir, ask_path_exists, unpack_file,
                        ARCHIVE_EXTENSIONS, consume, call_subprocess)
+from pip.utils.encoding import auto_decode
 from pip.utils.filesystem import check_path_owner
 from pip.utils.logging import indent_log
 from pip.utils.setuptools_build import SETUPTOOLS_SHIM
@@ -413,8 +414,8 @@ def get_file_content(url, comes_from=None, session=None):
             else:
                 return resp.url, resp.content
     try:
-        with open(url) as f:
-            content = f.read()
+        with open(url, 'rb') as f:
+            content = auto_decode(f.read())
     except IOError as exc:
         raise InstallationError(
             'Could not open requirements file: %s' % str(exc)
diff --git a/pip/utils/encoding.py b/pip/utils/encoding.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b272a0b24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pip/utils/encoding.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+import codecs
+import locale
+
+
+BOMS = [
+    (codecs.BOM_UTF8, 'utf8'),
+    (codecs.BOM_UTF16, 'utf16'),
+    (codecs.BOM_UTF16_BE, 'utf16-be'),
+    (codecs.BOM_UTF16_LE, 'utf16-le'),
+    (codecs.BOM_UTF32, 'utf32'),
+    (codecs.BOM_UTF32_BE, 'utf32-be'),
+    (codecs.BOM_UTF32_LE, 'utf32-le'),
+]
+
+
+def auto_decode(data):
+    """Check a bytes string for a BOM to correctly detect the encoding
+
+    Fallback to locale.getpreferredencoding(False) like open() on Python3"""
+    for bom, encoding in BOMS:
+        if data.startswith(bom):
+            return data[len(bom):].decode(encoding)
+    return data.decode(locale.getpreferredencoding(False))
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_utils.py b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
index fe66018db..68068730b 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_utils.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
 """
 util tests
 
@@ -15,6 +17,7 @@ from mock import Mock, patch
 from pip.exceptions import HashMismatch, HashMissing, InstallationError
 from pip.utils import (egg_link_path, get_installed_distributions,
                        untar_file, unzip_file, rmtree, normalize_path)
+from pip.utils.encoding import auto_decode
 from pip.utils.hashes import Hashes, MissingHashes
 from pip._vendor.six import BytesIO
 
@@ -447,3 +450,18 @@ class TestHashes(object):
         assert Hashes({'sha256': 'dummy'})
         assert not Hashes()
         assert not Hashes({})
+
+
+class TestEncoding(object):
+    """Tests for pip.utils.encoding"""
+
+    def test_auto_decode_utf16_le(self):
+        data = (
+            b'\xff\xfeD\x00j\x00a\x00n\x00g\x00o\x00=\x00'
+            b'=\x001\x00.\x004\x00.\x002\x00'
+        )
+        assert auto_decode(data) == "Django==1.4.2"
+
+    def test_auto_decode_utf8_no_bom(self):
+        data = u"Fort de café"
+        assert auto_decode(data.encode('utf8')) == data