diff --git a/docs/html/reference/pip_install.rst b/docs/html/reference/pip_install.rst
index ac37455ccad..780e06242b5 100644
--- a/docs/html/reference/pip_install.rst
+++ b/docs/html/reference/pip_install.rst
@@ -148,6 +148,8 @@ and the newline following it is effectively ignored.
 
 Comments are stripped *before* line continuations are processed.
 
+To interpret the requirements file in UTF-8 format add a comment ``# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-`` to the first or second line of the file.
+
 The following options are supported:
 
   *  :ref:`-i, --index-url <--index-url>`
diff --git a/news/7182.doc b/news/7182.doc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f55c6ee7eef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/7182.doc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Document that "coding: utf-8" is supported in requirements.txt
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/download.py b/src/pip/_internal/download.py
index 6567fc375a6..6da046b2a4f 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/download.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/download.py
@@ -85,7 +85,9 @@
 def get_file_content(url, comes_from=None, session=None):
     # type: (str, Optional[str], Optional[PipSession]) -> Tuple[str, Text]
     """Gets the content of a file; it may be a filename, file: URL, or
-    http: URL.  Returns (location, content).  Content is unicode.
+    http: URL.  Returns (location, content).  Default encoding of content is
+    unicode. To use utf-8 encoding use encoding declaration in first or
+    second line of requirements file
 
     :param url:         File path or url.
     :param comes_from:  Origin description of requirements.