diff --git a/sdks/python/setup.py b/sdks/python/setup.py
index e75a583717a5..0799238fd0c4 100644
--- a/sdks/python/setup.py
+++ b/sdks/python/setup.py
@@ -30,8 +30,7 @@
 
 def get_version():
   global_names = {}
-  execfile(os.path.normpath('./apache_beam/version.py'),
-           global_names)
+  exec(open(os.path.normpath('./apache_beam/version.py')).read(), global_names)
   return global_names['__version__']
 
 PACKAGE_NAME = 'apache-beam-sdk'