diff --git a/parser/parser-lammps/LammpsDataParser.py b/parser/parser-lammps/LammpsDataParser.py
index d8fc1a6d6d87a1a958164e41c55aa3d7ef0c9e8e..02973ead9d2ad282b94d4c9cdc28bfc2ac391282 100644
--- a/parser/parser-lammps/LammpsDataParser.py
+++ b/parser/parser-lammps/LammpsDataParser.py
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import os
 import sys
 import operator
 
+# Python 2 compability
+from io import open
 
 from LammpsCommon import get_metaInfo
 from nomadcore.caching_backend import CachingLevel
@@ -608,7 +610,11 @@ class LammpsDataParserContext(object):
                 xyz_file.append(xyz_line)
                 atomLabelling.append(xyz_line)
 
-            with open(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[1])), 'generated_from_data_file.xyz')), 'w', encoding = 'latin-1') as xyz:
+            mode = 'w'
+            if sys.version_info.major < 3:
+                mode += 'b'
+
+            with open(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[1])), 'generated_from_data_file.xyz')), mode) as xyz:
                 xyz.writelines('  '.join(str(j) for j in i) + '\n' for i in xyz_file)    # WRITE XYZ ATOMIC NUMBER AND COORDINATES
 
 
@@ -688,8 +694,12 @@ class LammpsDataParserContext(object):
                 xyz_line = [mass_xyz[index-1], float(line[4]), float(line[5]),  float(line[6])]
                 xyz_file.append(xyz_line)
                 atomLabelling.append(xyz_line)
-
-            with open(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[1])), 'generated_from_data_file.xyz')), 'w', encoding = 'latin-1') as xyz:
+            
+            mode = 'w'
+            if sys.version_info.major < 3:
+                mode += 'b'
+            
+            with open(os.path.normpath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(sys.argv[1])), 'generated_from_data_file.xyz')), mode) as xyz:
                 xyz.writelines('  '.join(str(j) for j in i) + '\n' for i in xyz_file)    # WRITE XYZ ATOMIC NUMBER AND COORDINATES
 
         return charge_dict, charge_list, mass_dict, mass_list, mass_xyz, new_mass_list, atomLabelling