diff --git a/lutris/util/fileio.py b/lutris/util/fileio.py
index f89f3939e..c9df58085 100644
--- a/lutris/util/fileio.py
+++ b/lutris/util/fileio.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ class EvilConfigParser(RawConfigParser):
     """ConfigParser with support for evil INIs using duplicate keys."""
     def write(self, fp):
         for section in self._sections:
-            fp.write("[%s]\n" % section)
+            fp.write("[{}]\n".format(section).encode('utf-8'))
             for (key, value) in list(self._sections[section].items()):
                 if key == "__name__":
                     continue
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ class EvilConfigParser(RawConfigParser):
                     # Duplicated keys writing support inside
                     key = "=".join((key,
                                     str(value).replace('\n', '\n%s=' % key)))
-                fp.write("%s\n" % (key))
-            fp.write("\n")
+                fp.write("{}\n".format(key).encode('utf-8'))
+            fp.write("\n".encode('utf-8'))
 
 
 class MultiOrderedDict(OrderedDict):
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
index 2f796fa67..12a83277e 100644
--- a/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
+import os
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from unittest import TestCase
 from lutris.util import system
 from lutris.util import steam
 from lutris.util import strings
+from lutris.util import fileio
 
 
 class TestFileUtils(TestCase):
@@ -110,3 +112,19 @@ class TestVersionSort(TestCase):
         versions = strings.version_sort(versions, reverse=True)
         self.assertEqual(versions[0], '1.9')
         self.assertEqual(versions[3], '1.6')
+
+
+class TestEvilConfigParser(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.config_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'test.ini')
+
+    def tearDown(self):
+        if os.path.exists(self.config_path):
+            os.remove(self.config_path)
+
+    def test_config_parse_can_write_to_disk(self):
+        parser = fileio.EvilConfigParser(dict_type=fileio.MultiOrderedDict)
+        parser.add_section('Test')
+        parser.set('Test', 'key', 'value')
+        with open(self.config_path, 'wb') as config:
+            parser.write(config)