diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py
index e3bf07f7390..da4e14713ff 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/action/template.py
@@ -115,11 +115,12 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
                 tmp_source = self._loader.get_real_file(source)
             except AnsibleFileNotFound as e:
                 raise AnsibleActionFail("could not find src=%s, %s" % (source, to_text(e)))
+            b_tmp_source = to_bytes(tmp_source, errors='surrogate_or_strict')
 
             # template the source data locally & get ready to transfer
             try:
-                with open(tmp_source, 'r') as f:
-                    template_data = to_text(f.read())
+                with open(b_tmp_source, 'rb') as f:
+                    template_data = to_text(f.read(), errors='surrogate_or_strict')
 
                 # set jinja2 internal search path for includes
                 searchpath = task_vars.get('ansible_search_path', [])
@@ -159,7 +160,7 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
             except Exception as e:
                 raise AnsibleActionFail("%s: %s" % (type(e).__name__, to_text(e)))
             finally:
-                self._loader.cleanup_tmp_file(tmp_source)
+                self._loader.cleanup_tmp_file(b_tmp_source)
 
             new_task = self._task.copy()
             # mode is either the mode from task.args or the mode of the source file if the task.args
@@ -177,7 +178,7 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
 
             try:
                 result_file = os.path.join(local_tempdir, os.path.basename(source))
-                with open(result_file, 'wb') as f:
+                with open(to_bytes(result_file, errors='surrogate_or_strict'), 'wb') as f:
                     f.write(to_bytes(resultant, errors='surrogate_or_strict'))
 
                 new_task.args.update(
@@ -196,7 +197,7 @@ class ActionModule(ActionBase):
                                                                         shared_loader_obj=self._shared_loader_obj)
                 result.update(copy_action.run(task_vars=task_vars))
             finally:
-                shutil.rmtree(local_tempdir)
+                shutil.rmtree(to_bytes(local_tempdir, errors='surrogate_or_strict'))
 
         except AnsibleAction as e:
             result.update(e.result)