diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 9983f2e4..ba80684a 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 ## Changes in version 0.1.0 (in development)
 
+### Fixes
+
+- Fixed Windows encoding errors in `appligator` Dockerfile generation, replaced
+  non-ASCII characters with plain ASCII equivalents, and added `encoding="utf-8"` 
+  to `write_text`/`read_text` calls in `gen_dockerfile.py`.
+
 ### Enhancements
 
 - Enhanced `appligator` with Dockerfile generation and improved Airflow integration:
diff --git a/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/gen_dockerfile.py b/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/gen_dockerfile.py
index 70d1c5bd..5b776e20 100644
--- a/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/gen_dockerfile.py
+++ b/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/gen_dockerfile.py
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ def generate(
     )
 
     dockerfile = output_dir / "Dockerfile"
-    dockerfile.write_text(content)
+    dockerfile.write_text(content, encoding="utf-8")
     return dockerfile
 
 
diff --git a/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/templates/Dockerfile.pixi.j2 b/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/templates/Dockerfile.pixi.j2
index 4e85017a..156a4435 100644
--- a/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/templates/Dockerfile.pixi.j2
+++ b/appligator/src/appligator/airflow/templates/Dockerfile.pixi.j2
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-# Generated by appligator — do not edit by hand.
+# Generated by appligator - do not edit by hand.
 
-# ── Stage 1: build ────────────────────────────────────────────
+# -- Stage 1: build ---------------------------------------------------
 FROM ghcr.io/prefix-dev/pixi:{{ pixi_version }}-bookworm-slim AS build
 
 RUN apt-get update \
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ RUN pixi install --locked -e {{ pixi_env }}
 {{ cmd }}
 {% endfor %}
 
-# ── Stage 2: runtime ──────────────────────────────────────────
+# -- Stage 2: runtime -------------------------------------------------
 FROM {{ base_image }}
 WORKDIR {{ workdir }}
 
diff --git a/appligator/tests/airflow/test_gen_dockerfile.py b/appligator/tests/airflow/test_gen_dockerfile.py
index 4991c5d7..8f4d4640 100644
--- a/appligator/tests/airflow/test_gen_dockerfile.py
+++ b/appligator/tests/airflow/test_gen_dockerfile.py
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def _gen(tmp_path: Path, **kwargs) -> tuple[Path, str]:
         df = generate(output_dir=out, **kwargs)
     finally:
         os.chdir(old)
-    return df, df.read_text()
+    return df, df.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
 
 
 class TestValidation: