diff --git a/changedetectionio/api/__init__.py b/changedetectionio/api/__init__.py
index b8d14e55..d8f9d8fd 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/api/__init__.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/api/__init__.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ def get_openapi_spec():
         # Possibly for pip3 packages
         spec_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '../docs/api-spec.yaml')
 
-    with open(spec_path, 'r') as f:
+    with open(spec_path, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
         spec_dict = yaml.safe_load(f)
     _openapi_spec = OpenAPI.from_dict(spec_dict)
     return _openapi_spec
diff --git a/changedetectionio/content_fetchers/playwright.py b/changedetectionio/content_fetchers/playwright.py
index 04fc3c0f..01f4c8a7 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/content_fetchers/playwright.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/content_fetchers/playwright.py
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ class fetcher(Fetcher):
         content = await self.page.content()
         destination = os.path.join(self.browser_steps_screenshot_path, 'step_{}.html'.format(step_n))
         logger.debug(f"Saving step HTML to {destination}")
-        with open(destination, 'w') as f:
+        with open(destination, 'w', encoding='utf-8') as f:
             f.write(content)
 
     async def run(self,
diff --git a/changedetectionio/flask_app.py b/changedetectionio/flask_app.py
index 0a9c006d..c831c71d 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/flask_app.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/flask_app.py
@@ -101,12 +101,12 @@ def init_app_secret(datastore_path):
     path = os.path.join(datastore_path, "secret.txt")
 
     try:
-        with open(path, "r") as f:
+        with open(path, "r", encoding='utf-8') as f:
             secret = f.read()
 
     except FileNotFoundError:
         import secrets
-        with open(path, "w") as f:
+        with open(path, "w", encoding='utf-8') as f:
             secret = secrets.token_hex(32)
             f.write(secret)
 
diff --git a/changedetectionio/model/App.py b/changedetectionio/model/App.py
index 084e957a..0152aed6 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/model/App.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/model/App.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class model(dict):
 
 def parse_headers_from_text_file(filepath):
     headers = {}
-    with open(filepath, 'r') as f:
+    with open(filepath, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
         for l in f.readlines():
             l = l.strip()
             if not l.startswith('#') and ':' in l:
diff --git a/changedetectionio/model/Watch.py b/changedetectionio/model/Watch.py
index 49ad8316..cd689054 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/model/Watch.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/model/Watch.py
@@ -188,7 +188,7 @@ class model(watch_base):
         fname = os.path.join(self.watch_data_dir, "history.txt")
         if os.path.isfile(fname):
             logger.debug(f"Reading watch history index for {self.get('uuid')}")
-            with open(fname, "r") as f:
+            with open(fname, "r", encoding='utf-8') as f:
                 for i in f.readlines():
                     if ',' in i:
                         k, v = i.strip().split(',', 2)
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@ class model(watch_base):
         """Return the text saved from a previous request that resulted in a non-200 error"""
         fname = os.path.join(self.watch_data_dir, "last-error.txt")
         if os.path.isfile(fname):
-            with open(fname, 'r') as f:
+            with open(fname, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
                 return f.read()
         return False
 
diff --git a/changedetectionio/processors/text_json_diff/processor.py b/changedetectionio/processors/text_json_diff/processor.py
index e877ef7c..62d749f7 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/processors/text_json_diff/processor.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/processors/text_json_diff/processor.py
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ class ContentProcessor:
 
         # Sort JSON to avoid false alerts from reordering
         try:
-            content = json.dumps(json.loads(content), sort_keys=True, indent=4)
+            content = json.dumps(json.loads(content), sort_keys=True, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False)
         except Exception:
             # Might be malformed JSON, continue anyway
             pass
diff --git a/changedetectionio/store.py b/changedetectionio/store.py
index 0cf6f3ab..5a9b7ea3 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/store.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/store.py
@@ -78,9 +78,13 @@ class ChangeDetectionStore:
                 self.__data['build_sha'] = f.read()
 
         try:
-            # @todo retest with ", encoding='utf-8'"
-            with open(self.json_store_path) as json_file:
-                from_disk = json.load(json_file)
+            if HAS_ORJSON:
+                # orjson.loads() expects UTF-8 encoded bytes #3611
+                with open(self.json_store_path, 'rb') as json_file:
+                    from_disk = orjson.loads(json_file.read())
+            else:
+                with open(self.json_store_path, encoding='utf-8') as json_file:
+                    from_disk = json.load(json_file)
 
                 # @todo isnt there a way todo this dict.update recursively?
                 # Problem here is if the one on the disk is missing a sub-struct, it wont be present anymore.
@@ -435,12 +439,13 @@ class ChangeDetectionStore:
                 # system was out of memory, out of RAM etc
                 if HAS_ORJSON:
                     # Use orjson for faster serialization
+                    # orjson.dumps() always returns UTF-8 encoded bytes #3611
                     with open(self.json_store_path+".tmp", 'wb') as json_file:
                         json_file.write(orjson.dumps(data, option=orjson.OPT_INDENT_2))
                 else:
                     # Fallback to standard json module
-                    with open(self.json_store_path+".tmp", 'w') as json_file:
-                        json.dump(data, json_file, indent=2)
+                    with open(self.json_store_path+".tmp", 'w', encoding='utf-8') as json_file:
+                        json.dump(data, json_file, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False)
                 os.replace(self.json_store_path+".tmp", self.json_store_path)
             except Exception as e:
                 logger.error(f"Error writing JSON!! (Main JSON file save was skipped) : {str(e)}")
@@ -502,8 +507,13 @@ class ChangeDetectionStore:
 
         # Load from external config file
         if path.isfile(proxy_list_file):
-            with open(os.path.join(self.datastore_path, "proxies.json")) as f:
-                proxy_list = json.load(f)
+            if HAS_ORJSON:
+                # orjson.loads() expects UTF-8 encoded bytes #3611
+                with open(os.path.join(self.datastore_path, "proxies.json"), 'rb') as f:
+                    proxy_list = orjson.loads(f.read())
+            else:
+                with open(os.path.join(self.datastore_path, "proxies.json"), encoding='utf-8') as f:
+                    proxy_list = json.load(f)
 
         # Mapping from UI config if available
         extras = self.data['settings']['requests'].get('extra_proxies')
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_history_consistency.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_history_consistency.py
index 16baed39..f88c6d0c 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/test_history_consistency.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_history_consistency.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def test_consistent_history(client, live_server, measure_memory_usage, datastore
     json_db_file = os.path.join(live_server.app.config['DATASTORE'].datastore_path, 'url-watches.json')
 
     json_obj = None
-    with open(json_db_file, 'r') as f:
+    with open(json_db_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
         json_obj = json.load(f)
 
     # assert the right amount of watches was found in the JSON
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ def test_consistent_history(client, live_server, measure_memory_usage, datastore
         assert len(files_in_watch_dir) == 3, "Should be just three files in the dir, html.br snapshot, history.txt and the extracted text snapshot"
 
     json_db_file = os.path.join(live_server.app.config['DATASTORE'].datastore_path, 'url-watches.json')
-    with open(json_db_file, 'r') as f:
+    with open(json_db_file, 'r', encoding='utf-8') as f:
         assert '"default"' not in f.read(), "'default' probably shouldnt be here, it came from when the 'default' Watch vars were accidently being saved"
 
 
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_jq_selector.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_jq_selector.py
index ec90de03..f3e4006e 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_jq_selector.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_jsonpath_jq_selector.py
@@ -442,13 +442,12 @@ def test_correct_header_detect(client, live_server, measure_memory_usage, datast
     snapshot_contents = watch.get_history_snapshot(timestamp=dates[0])
 
     assert b'"hello": 123,' in res.data # properly html escaped in the front end
-
+    import json
+    data = json.loads(snapshot_contents)
+    keys = list(data.keys())
     # Should be correctly formatted and sorted,  ("world" goes to end)
-    assert snapshot_contents == """{
-    "hello": 123,
-    "world": 123
-}"""
-
+    assert keys == ["hello", "world"]
+        
     delete_all_watches(client)
 
 def test_check_jsonpath_ext_filter(client, live_server, measure_memory_usage, datastore_path):
diff --git a/changedetectionio/tests/test_request.py b/changedetectionio/tests/test_request.py
index 5e080405..66a4b605 100644
--- a/changedetectionio/tests/test_request.py
+++ b/changedetectionio/tests/test_request.py
@@ -142,7 +142,7 @@ def test_body_in_request(client, live_server, measure_memory_usage, datastore_pa
     client.get(url_for("ui.form_watch_checknow"), follow_redirects=True)
     wait_for_all_checks(client)
     watches_with_body = 0
-    with open(os.path.join(datastore_path, 'url-watches.json')) as f:
+    with open(os.path.join(datastore_path, 'url-watches.json'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
         app_struct = json.load(f)
         for uuid in app_struct['watching']:
             if app_struct['watching'][uuid]['body']==body_value:
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ def test_method_in_request(client, live_server, measure_memory_usage, datastore_
     wait_for_all_checks(client)
 
     watches_with_method = 0
-    with open(os.path.join(datastore_path, 'url-watches.json')) as f:
+    with open(os.path.join(datastore_path, 'url-watches.json'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
         app_struct = json.load(f)
         for uuid in app_struct['watching']:
             if app_struct['watching'][uuid]['method'] == 'PATCH':