diff --git a/awscli/formatter.py b/awscli/formatter.py
index 385927bdae40..6021bbc88155 100644
--- a/awscli/formatter.py
+++ b/awscli/formatter.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
 import logging
 import sys
-import json
+from botocore.compat import json
 
 from botocore.utils import set_value_from_jmespath
 
@@ -42,14 +42,7 @@ def _remove_request_id(self, response_data):
                 del response_data['ResponseMetadata']
 
     def _get_default_stream(self):
-        if getattr(sys.stdout, 'encoding', None) is None:
-            # In python3, sys.stdout.encoding is always set.
-            # In python2, if you redirect to stdout, then
-            # encoding is not None.  In this case we'll default
-            # to utf-8.
-            return compat.get_stdout_text_writer()
-        else:
-            return sys.stdout
+        return compat.get_stdout_text_writer()
 
 
 class FullyBufferedFormatter(Formatter):
@@ -84,7 +77,8 @@ def _format_response(self, operation, response, stream):
         # that out to the user but other "falsey" values like an empty
         # dictionary should be printed.
         if response:
-            json.dump(response, stream, indent=4, default=json_encoder)
+            json.dump(response, stream, indent=4, default=json_encoder,
+                      ensure_ascii=False)
             stream.write('\n')
 
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/customizations/emr/test_create_default_role.py b/tests/unit/customizations/emr/test_create_default_role.py
index 0b210be14e60..0871f1bd1149 100644
--- a/tests/unit/customizations/emr/test_create_default_role.py
+++ b/tests/unit/customizations/emr/test_create_default_role.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 import mock
 import awscli.customizations.emr.emrutils as emrutils
-import json
+from botocore.compat import json
 from botocore.vendored import requests
 from tests.unit.customizations.emr import EMRBaseAWSCommandParamsTest as \
     BaseAWSCommandParamsTest
diff --git a/tests/unit/output/test_json_output.py b/tests/unit/output/test_json_output.py
index e2171e953ccb..5ce76ea4bdf4 100644
--- a/tests/unit/output/test_json_output.py
+++ b/tests/unit/output/test_json_output.py
@@ -11,8 +11,12 @@
 # distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF
 # ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific
 # language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
+from botocore.compat import json
+import mock
+import six
+
 from awscli.testutils import BaseAWSCommandParamsTest
-import json
+from awscli.compat import get_stdout_text_writer
 
 
 class TestGetPasswordData(BaseAWSCommandParamsTest):
@@ -49,7 +53,7 @@ def setUp(self):
                     "UserName": "testuser-51",
                     "Path": "/",
                     "CreateDate": "2012-10-14T23:53:39Z",
-                    "UserId": "EXAMPLEUSERID",
+                    "UserId": u"EXAMPLEUSERID\u2713",
                     "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456:user/testuser2"
                 },
             ]
@@ -76,3 +80,14 @@ def test_unknown_output_type_from_env_var(self):
         # output format from the env var still gives an error.
         self.environ['AWS_DEFAULT_OUTPUT'] = 'bad-output-type'
         self.run_cmd('iam list-users', expected_rc=255)
+
+    def test_json_prints_unicode_chars(self):
+        output = self.run_cmd('iam list-users', expected_rc=0)[0]
+        with mock.patch('sys.stdout', six.StringIO()) as f:
+            out = get_stdout_text_writer()
+            out.write(u'\u2713')
+            expected = f.getvalue()
+        # We should not see the '\u<hex>' for of the unicode character.
+        # It should be encoded into the default encoding.
+        self.assertNotIn('\\u2713', output)
+        self.assertIn(expected, output)