diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/textView.py b/Lib/idlelib/textView.py
index 3f3c2477891..e5c551ad83a 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/textView.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/textView.py
@@ -62,11 +62,7 @@ def view_text(parent, title, text):
 
 def view_file(parent, title, filename, encoding=None):
     try:
-        if encoding:
-            import codecs
-            textFile = codecs.open(filename, 'r')
-        else:
-            textFile = open(filename, 'r')
+        textFile = open(filename, 'r', encoding=encoding)
     except IOError:
         import tkinter.messagebox as tkMessageBox
         tkMessageBox.showerror(title='File Load Error',
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 91c65a6507d..38533dd1ef0 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ C-API
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #8203: Fix IDLE Credits dialog: view_file() uses its encoding argument.
+
 - Issue #8720: fix regression caused by fix for #4050 by making getsourcefile
   smart enough to find source files in the linecache.