diff --git a/python/types.c b/python/types.c
--- a/python/types.c
+++ b/python/types.c
@@ -21,16 +21,66 @@
 
 #if PY_MAJOR_VERSION >= 3
 #include <stdio.h>
+#ifdef _WIN32
+#include <io.h>
+#else
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <fcntl.h>
+#endif
 
 FILE *
 libxml_PyFileGet(PyObject *f) {
-    int fd, flags;
+    int fd;
     FILE *res;
     const char *mode;
 
     fd = PyObject_AsFileDescriptor(f);
+#ifdef _WIN32
+    PyObject *modeObj, *modeBytes;
+
+    modeObj = PyObject_GetAttrString(f, "mode");
+    if (!modeObj)
+        return(NULL);
+
+    /* using f.mode to replace posix fcntl(), see
+     * https://gist.github.com/novocaine/09d5c00e67fd0aa13cfc */
+    if (PyUnicode_Check(modeObj)) {
+        modeBytes = PyObject_CallMethod(
+            modeObj, "encode", "ascii", "namereplace");
+        if (!modeBytes) {
+            Py_DECREF(modeObj);
+            return(NULL);
+        }
+        mode = PyBytes_AsString(modeBytes);
+        if (!mode) {
+            Py_DECREF(modeObj);
+            return(NULL);
+        }
+        Py_DECREF(modeBytes);
+    } else if (PyBytes_Check(modeObj)) {
+        mode = PyBytes_AsString(modeObj);
+        if (!mode) {
+            Py_DECREF(modeObj);
+            return(NULL);
+        }
+    } else {
+        Py_DECREF(modeObj);
+        return(NULL);
+    }
+
+    Py_DECREF(modeObj);
+
+    fd = _dup(fd);
+    if (fd == -1)
+        return(NULL);
+    res = _fdopen(fd, mode);
+    if (!res) {
+        _close(fd);
+        return(NULL);
+    }
+    return(res);
+#else
+    int flags;
     /*
      * Get the flags on the fd to understand how it was opened
      */
@@ -76,6 +126,7 @@ libxml_PyFileGet(PyObject *f) {
 	return(NULL);
     }
     return(res);
+#endif
 }
 
 void libxml_PyFileRelease(FILE *f) {