diff --git a/ddsc/cmdparser.py b/ddsc/cmdparser.py
index 91f6940..fdceb62 100644
--- a/ddsc/cmdparser.py
+++ b/ddsc/cmdparser.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ Command line parser for the application.
 """
 import os
 import argparse
+import six
 from builtins import str
 
 
@@ -26,7 +27,7 @@ def to_unicode(s):
     :param s: string to convert to unicode
     :return: unicode string for argument
     """
-    return str(s)
+    return s if six.PY3 else str(s, 'utf-8')
 
 
 def add_project_name_arg(arg_parser, required=True, help_text="Name of the remote project to manage."):
diff --git a/ddsc/core/util.py b/ddsc/core/util.py
index a5e7112..10e0445 100644
--- a/ddsc/core/util.py
+++ b/ddsc/core/util.py
@@ -232,9 +232,9 @@ def wait_for_processes(processes, size, progress_queue, watcher, item):
 
 def verify_terminal_encoding(encoding):
     """
-    Raises ValueError with error message when terminal encoding is not Unicode(contains UTF).
+    Raises ValueError with error message when terminal encoding is not Unicode(contains UTF ignoring case).
     :param encoding: str: encoding we want to check
     """
     encoding = encoding or ''
-    if not ("UTF" in encoding):
+    if not ("UTF" in encoding.upper()):
         raise ValueError(TERMINAL_ENCODING_NOT_UTF_ERROR)

Check for lowercase utf-8 in encoding
Testing Windows 7 with Anaconda(python 3.6) 4.3.0 ignores the PYTHONIOENCODING value and displays lowercase utf-8. 
Change the code in ddsc/core/util.py verify_terminal_encoding to ignore case.
diff --git a/ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py b/ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..daf00cd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from ddsc.core.util import verify_terminal_encoding
+
+
+class TestUtil(TestCase):
+
+    def test_verify_terminal_encoding_upper(self):
+        verify_terminal_encoding('UTF')
+
+    def test_verify_terminal_encoding_lower(self):
+        verify_terminal_encoding('utf')
+
+    def test_verify_terminal_encoding_ascii_raises(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            verify_terminal_encoding('ascii')
+
+    def test_verify_terminal_encoding_empty_raises(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            verify_terminal_encoding('')
+
+    def test_verify_terminal_encoding_none_raises(self):
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            verify_terminal_encoding(None)

pip install -e .[dev]
parse_log_pytest
requirements.txt
mock flake8 pytest
apt-get update apt-get install -y gcc
3.5
requirements.txt
pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
attrs==22.2.0
certifi==2021.5.30
-e git+https://github.com/Duke-GCB/DukeDSClient.git@a1ffd407bc0dd886c892eb0667f79d08317f7b84#egg=DukeDSClient
flake8==5.0.4
future==0.16.0
importlib-metadata==4.2.0
iniconfig==1.1.1
mccabe==0.7.0
mock==5.2.0
packaging==21.3
pluggy==1.0.0
py==1.11.0
pycodestyle==2.9.1
pyflakes==2.5.0
pyparsing==3.1.4
pytest==7.0.1
PyYAML==3.12
requests==2.13.0
six==1.10.0
tomli==1.2.3
typing_extensions==4.1.1
zipp==3.6.0

name: DukeDSClient
channels:
  - defaults
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r
  - conda-forge
dependencies:
  - _libgcc_mutex=0.1=main
  - _openmp_mutex=5.1=1_gnu
  - ca-certificates=2025.2.25=h06a4308_0
  - certifi=2021.5.30=py36h06a4308_0
  - ld_impl_linux-64=2.40=h12ee557_0
  - libffi=3.3=he6710b0_2
  - libgcc-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libgomp=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libstdcxx-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - ncurses=6.4=h6a678d5_0
  - openssl=1.1.1w=h7f8727e_0
  - pip=21.2.2=py36h06a4308_0
  - python=3.6.13=h12debd9_1
  - readline=8.2=h5eee18b_0
  - setuptools=58.0.4=py36h06a4308_0
  - sqlite=3.45.3=h5eee18b_0
  - tk=8.6.14=h39e8969_0
  - wheel=0.37.1=pyhd3eb1b0_0
  - xz=5.6.4=h5eee18b_1
  - zlib=1.2.13=h5eee18b_1
  - pip:
      - attrs==22.2.0
      - flake8==5.0.4
      - future==0.16.0
      - importlib-metadata==4.2.0
      - iniconfig==1.1.1
      - mccabe==0.7.0
      - mock==5.2.0
      - packaging==21.3
      - pluggy==1.0.0
      - py==1.11.0
      - pycodestyle==2.9.1
      - pyflakes==2.5.0
      - pyparsing==3.1.4
      - pytest==7.0.1
      - pyyaml==3.12
      - requests==2.13.0
      - six==1.10.0
      - tomli==1.2.3
      - typing-extensions==4.1.1
      - zipp==3.6.0
prefix: /opt/conda/envs/DukeDSClient

ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py::TestUtil::test_verify_terminal_encoding_lower
ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py::TestUtil::test_verify_terminal_encoding_ascii_raises ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py::TestUtil::test_verify_terminal_encoding_empty_raises ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py::TestUtil::test_verify_terminal_encoding_none_raises ddsc/core/tests/test_util.py::TestUtil::test_verify_terminal_encoding_upper
ddsc/cmdparser.py ddsc/core/util.py
ddsc/cmdparser.py ddsc/core/util.py