diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py b/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py
index 56b2e1e8..6f66cac8 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/helpers.py
@@ -130,14 +130,6 @@ def is_file_writable(test_file):
 
 
 if sys.version_info[0:2] <= (3, 5):
-    def universal_open(p, *args, **kwargs):
-        """Work around Python 3.5's inability to open(pathlib.Path())"""
-        try:
-            return p.open(*args, **kwargs)
-        except AttributeError:
-            return open(p, *args, **kwargs)
-
-
     def fspath(path):
         """https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0519/#os"""
         import pathlib
@@ -167,7 +159,6 @@ if sys.version_info[0:2] <= (3, 5):
             + path_type.__name__)
 
 else:
-    universal_open = open
     fspath = os.fspath
 
 
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/pdfa.py b/src/ocrmypdf/pdfa.py
index 46880120..90e96aa7 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/pdfa.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/pdfa.py
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ from datetime import datetime
 import pkg_resources
 from libxmp.utils import file_to_dict
 from libxmp import consts
+from pathlib import Path
 
-from .helpers import universal_open
 
 ICC_PROFILE_RELPATH = 'data/sRGB.icc'
 
@@ -216,8 +216,7 @@ def generate_pdfa_ps(target_filename, pdfmark, icc='sRGB'):
 
     # We should have encoded everything to pure ASCII by this point, and
     # to be safe, only allow ASCII in PostScript
-    with universal_open(target_filename, 'w', encoding='ascii') as f:
-        f.write(ps)
+    Path(target_filename).write_text(ps, encoding='ascii')
 
 
 def file_claims_pdfa(filename):
diff --git a/src/ocrmypdf/pdfinfo.py b/src/ocrmypdf/pdfinfo.py
index c1d68c28..6d692763 100644
--- a/src/ocrmypdf/pdfinfo.py
+++ b/src/ocrmypdf/pdfinfo.py
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ from enum import Enum
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 
 from .exec import ghostscript
-from .helpers import universal_open, fspath
+from .helpers import fspath
 
 from pikepdf import PdfMatrix
 import pikepdf