diff --git a/req-rtd.txt b/req-rtd.txt
index e1e8b8c01..646905b08 100644
--- a/req-rtd.txt
+++ b/req-rtd.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 picklable-itertools==0.1.1
-progressbar2==3.6.2
-pyyaml==3.11
-requests==2.9.1
-six==1.10.0
+progressbar2==3.39.2
+pyyaml==3.13
+requests==2.21.0
+six==1.12.0
diff --git a/req-travis-conda.txt b/req-travis-conda.txt
index 36ef8a26e..5610b0daf 100644
--- a/req-travis-conda.txt
+++ b/req-travis-conda.txt
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
-coverage==4.0.3
-h5py==2.5.0
-mock==1.3.0
+coverage==4.5.2
+h5py==2.9.0
+mock==2.0.0
 nose==1.3.7
-numpy==1.10.4
-pillow==3.1.1
-pytables==3.2.2
-pyyaml==3.11
-pyzmq==15.2.0
-requests==2.9.1
-scipy==0.17.0
-six==1.10.0
+numpy==1.16.1
+pillow==5.4.1
+pytables==3.4.4
+pyyaml==3.13
+pyzmq==18.0.0
+scipy==1.2.1
+six==1.12.0
+progressbar2==3.39.2
diff --git a/req-travis-pip.txt b/req-travis-pip.txt
index e3ad30c0c..fccc367d0 100644
--- a/req-travis-pip.txt
+++ b/req-travis-pip.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-nose2[coverage_plugin]==0.6.4
-coveralls==1.1
+nose2[coverage_plugin]==0.8.0
+coveralls==1.6.0
 picklable-itertools==0.1.1
-progressbar2==3.6.2
+requests==2.21.0
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 9a143a69e..4f3b4af6f 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
-h5py==2.5.0
-numpy==1.10.4
-tables==3.2.2
+h5py==2.9.0
+numpy==1.16.1
+tables==3.4.4
 picklable-itertools==0.1.1
-pillow==3.1.1
-progressbar2==3.6.2
-pyyaml==3.11
-pyzmq==15.2.0
-requests==2.9.1
-scipy==0.17.0
-six==1.10.0
+pillow==5.4.1
+progressbar2==3.39.2
+pyyaml==3.13
+pyzmq==18.0.0
+requests==2.21.0
+scipy==1.2.1
+six==1.12.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 74d6d04a5..26d7165e7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 """Installation script."""
 from os import path
 import sys
+from io import open
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
 from distutils.extension import Extension
 
 HERE = path.abspath(path.dirname(__file__))
 
-with open(path.join(HERE, 'README.rst')) as f:
+with open(path.join(HERE, 'README.rst'), encoding='utf-8') as f:
     LONG_DESCRIPTION = f.read().strip()
 
 # Visual C++ apparently doesn't respect/know what to do with this flag.
@@ -44,8 +45,10 @@
     ],
     keywords='dataset data iteration pipeline processing',
     packages=find_packages(exclude=['tests']),
-    install_requires=['numpy', 'six', 'picklable_itertools', 'pyyaml', 'h5py', 'tables',
-                      'progressbar2', 'pyzmq', 'scipy', 'pillow', 'requests'],
+    install_requires=['numpy', 'six', 'picklable_itertools', 'pyyaml',
+                      'h5py', 'tables',
+                      'progressbar2', 'pyzmq', 'scipy', 'pillow>=3.3.2',
+                      'requests'],
     extras_require={
         'test': ['mock', 'nose', 'nose2'],
         'docs': ['sphinx', 'sphinx-rtd-theme']