diff --git a/Lib/fontTools/ttx.py b/Lib/fontTools/ttx.py
index faaf6b72d..03314e0c2 100644
--- a/Lib/fontTools/ttx.py
+++ b/Lib/fontTools/ttx.py
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ def guessFileType(fileName):
 		return "TTF"
 	if ext == ".dfont":
 		return "TTF"
-	header = f.read(256)
+	header = f.read(256).lstrip(b'\xef\xbb\xbf')
 	head = Tag(header[:4])
 	if head == "OTTO":
 		return "OTF"
diff --git a/NEWS.rst b/NEWS.rst
index e884f5409..84546adf7 100644
--- a/NEWS.rst
+++ b/NEWS.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+- [ttx] Support reading TTX files with BOM (#896)
 - [CFF2] Fixed the reporting of the number of regions in the font.
 
 3.9.1 (released 2017-03-20)