diff --git a/compose/config/environment.py b/compose/config/environment.py
index 7b9269300..4ba228c8a 100644
--- a/compose/config/environment.py
+++ b/compose/config/environment.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 from __future__ import unicode_literals
 
 import codecs
+import contextlib
 import logging
 import os
 
@@ -31,11 +32,12 @@ def env_vars_from_file(filename):
     elif not os.path.isfile(filename):
         raise ConfigurationError("%s is not a file." % (filename))
     env = {}
-    for line in codecs.open(filename, 'r', 'utf-8'):
-        line = line.strip()
-        if line and not line.startswith('#'):
-            k, v = split_env(line)
-            env[k] = v
+    with contextlib.closing(codecs.open(filename, 'r', 'utf-8')) as fileobj:
+        for line in fileobj:
+            line = line.strip()
+            if line and not line.startswith('#'):
+                k, v = split_env(line)
+                env[k] = v
     return env