diff --git a/src/mkdocs_table_reader_plugin/readers.py b/src/mkdocs_table_reader_plugin/readers.py
index e60f25d..f6f113b 100644
--- a/src/mkdocs_table_reader_plugin/readers.py
+++ b/src/mkdocs_table_reader_plugin/readers.py
@@ -133,15 +133,23 @@ def read_excel(*args, **kwargs) -> str:
 
 @ParseArgs
 def pd_read_yaml(*args, **kwargs) -> str:
+    defaultEncoding = "UTF-8"
+    if "encoding" in kwargs:
+        defaultEncoding = kwargs["encoding"]
+        del kwargs["encoding"]
     json_kwargs = kwargs_in_func(kwargs, pd.json_normalize)
-    with open(args[0]) as f:
+    with open(args[0], "r", encoding=defaultEncoding) as f:
         df = pd.json_normalize(yaml.safe_load(f), **json_kwargs)
     return df
 
 @ParseArgs
 def read_yaml(*args, **kwargs) -> str:
+    defaultEncoding = "UTF-8"
+    if "encoding" in kwargs:
+        defaultEncoding = kwargs["encoding"]
+        del kwargs["encoding"]
     json_kwargs = kwargs_in_func(kwargs, pd.json_normalize)
-    with open(args[0]) as f:
+    with open(args[0], "r", encoding=defaultEncoding) as f:
         df = pd.json_normalize(yaml.safe_load(f), **json_kwargs)
 
     markdown_kwargs = kwargs_not_in_func(kwargs, pd.json_normalize)
@@ -194,4 +202,4 @@ def read_raw(*args, **kwargs) -> str:
     "pd_read_json": pd_read_json,
     "pd_read_feather": pd_read_feather,
 }
-MACROS = {**READERS, **MACRO_ONLY}
\ No newline at end of file
+MACROS = {**READERS, **MACRO_ONLY}