diff --git a/ansible/action_plugins/merge_configs.py b/ansible/action_plugins/merge_configs.py
index 12b3234510..b58d6d7acf 100644
--- a/ansible/action_plugins/merge_configs.py
+++ b/ansible/action_plugins/merge_configs.py
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ class ActionModule(action.ActionBase):
 
         try:
             result_file = os.path.join(local_tempdir, 'source')
-            with open(result_file, 'wb') as f:
+            with open(result_file, 'w') as f:
                 f.write(full_source)
 
             new_task = self._task.copy()
diff --git a/ansible/action_plugins/merge_yaml.py b/ansible/action_plugins/merge_yaml.py
index 75f49d506a..bf974050cd 100755
--- a/ansible/action_plugins/merge_yaml.py
+++ b/ansible/action_plugins/merge_yaml.py
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ class ActionModule(action.ActionBase):
 
         try:
             result_file = os.path.join(local_tempdir, 'source')
-            with open(result_file, 'wb') as f:
+            with open(result_file, 'w') as f:
                 f.write(dump(output, default_flow_style=False))
 
             new_task = self._task.copy()