diff --git a/IPython/utils/io.py b/IPython/utils/io.py
index 3d236eb..8d15f11 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/io.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/io.py
@@ -3,33 +3,24 @@
 IO related utilities.
 """
 
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-#  Copyright (C) 2008-2011  The IPython Development Team
-#
-#  Distributed under the terms of the BSD License.  The full license is in
-#  the file COPYING, distributed as part of this software.
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright (c) IPython Development Team.
+# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+
 from __future__ import print_function
 from __future__ import absolute_import
 
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Imports
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 import codecs
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 import io
 import os
 import shutil
-import stat
 import sys
 import tempfile
+import warnings
 from .capture import CapturedIO, capture_output
 from .py3compat import string_types, input, PY3
 
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Code
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
 
 class IOStream:
 
@@ -323,25 +314,9 @@ def raw_print_err(*args, **kw):
 rprint = raw_print
 rprinte = raw_print_err
 
-def unicode_std_stream(stream='stdout'):
-    u"""Get a wrapper to write unicode to stdout/stderr as UTF-8.
-
-    This ignores environment variables and default encodings, to reliably write
-    unicode to stdout or stderr.
-
-    ::
 
-        unicode_std_stream().write(u'ł@e¶ŧ←')
-    """
-    assert stream in ('stdout', 'stderr')
-    stream  = getattr(sys, stream)
-    if PY3:
-        try:
-            stream_b = stream.buffer
-        except AttributeError:
-            # sys.stdout has been replaced - use it directly
-            return stream
-    else:
-        stream_b = stream
-
-    return codecs.getwriter('utf-8')(stream_b)
+def unicode_std_stream(stream='stdout'):
+    """DEPRECATED, moved to jupyter_nbconvert.utils.io"""
+    warn("IPython.utils.io.unicode_std_stream has moved to jupyter_nbconvert.utils.io")
+    from jupyter_nbconvert.utils.io import unicode_std_stream
+    return unicode_std_stream(stream)
diff --git a/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py b/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py
index aa00a88..5e75d7d 100644
--- a/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py
+++ b/IPython/utils/tests/test_io.py
@@ -86,36 +86,6 @@ def test_capture_output():
     nt.assert_equal(io.stdout, 'hi, stdout\n')
     nt.assert_equal(io.stderr, 'hi, stderr\n')
 
-def test_UnicodeStdStream():
-    # Test wrapping a bytes-level stdout
-    if PY3:
-        stdoutb = stdlib_io.BytesIO()
-        stdout = stdlib_io.TextIOWrapper(stdoutb, encoding='ascii')
-    else:
-        stdout = stdoutb = stdlib_io.BytesIO()
-
-    orig_stdout = sys.stdout
-    sys.stdout = stdout
-    try:
-        sample = u"@łe¶ŧ←"
-        unicode_std_stream().write(sample)
-
-        output = stdoutb.getvalue().decode('utf-8')
-        nt.assert_equal(output, sample)
-        assert not stdout.closed
-    finally:
-        sys.stdout = orig_stdout
-
-@skipif(not PY3, "Not applicable on Python 2")
-def test_UnicodeStdStream_nowrap():
-    # If we replace stdout with a StringIO, it shouldn't get wrapped.
-    orig_stdout = sys.stdout
-    sys.stdout = StringIO()
-    try:
-        nt.assert_is(unicode_std_stream(), sys.stdout)
-        assert not sys.stdout.closed
-    finally:
-        sys.stdout = orig_stdout
 
 def test_atomic_writing():
     class CustomExc(Exception): pass
diff --git a/jupyter_nbconvert/utils/io.py b/jupyter_nbconvert/utils/io.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c03ec7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jupyter_nbconvert/utils/io.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+"""io-related utilities"""
+
+# Copyright (c) Jupyter Development Team.
+# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+
+import codecs
+import sys
+from IPython.utils.py3compat import PY3
+
+
+def unicode_std_stream(stream='stdout'):
+    u"""Get a wrapper to write unicode to stdout/stderr as UTF-8.
+
+    This ignores environment variables and default encodings, to reliably write
+    unicode to stdout or stderr.
+
+    ::
+
+        unicode_std_stream().write(u'ł@e¶ŧ←')
+    """
+    assert stream in ('stdout', 'stderr')
+    stream  = getattr(sys, stream)
+    if PY3:
+        try:
+            stream_b = stream.buffer
+        except AttributeError:
+            # sys.stdout has been replaced - use it directly
+            return stream
+    else:
+        stream_b = stream
+
+    return codecs.getwriter('utf-8')(stream_b)
diff --git a/jupyter_nbconvert/utils/tests/test_io.py b/jupyter_nbconvert/utils/tests/test_io.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c4af00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/jupyter_nbconvert/utils/tests/test_io.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# encoding: utf-8
+"""Tests for utils.io"""
+
+# Copyright (c) Jupyter Development Team.
+# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
+
+import io as stdlib_io
+import sys
+
+import nose.tools as nt
+
+from IPython.testing.decorators import skipif
+from ..io import unicode_std_stream
+from IPython.utils.py3compat import PY3
+
+if PY3:
+    from io import StringIO
+else:
+    from StringIO import StringIO
+
+def test_UnicodeStdStream():
+    # Test wrapping a bytes-level stdout
+    if PY3:
+        stdoutb = stdlib_io.BytesIO()
+        stdout = stdlib_io.TextIOWrapper(stdoutb, encoding='ascii')
+    else:
+        stdout = stdoutb = stdlib_io.BytesIO()
+
+    orig_stdout = sys.stdout
+    sys.stdout = stdout
+    try:
+        sample = u"@łe¶ŧ←"
+        unicode_std_stream().write(sample)
+
+        output = stdoutb.getvalue().decode('utf-8')
+        nt.assert_equal(output, sample)
+        assert not stdout.closed
+    finally:
+        sys.stdout = orig_stdout
+
+@skipif(not PY3, "Not applicable on Python 2")
+def test_UnicodeStdStream_nowrap():
+    # If we replace stdout with a StringIO, it shouldn't get wrapped.
+    orig_stdout = sys.stdout
+    sys.stdout = StringIO()
+    try:
+        nt.assert_is(unicode_std_stream(), sys.stdout)
+        assert not sys.stdout.closed
+    finally:
+        sys.stdout = orig_stdout
diff --git a/jupyter_nbconvert/writers/stdout.py b/jupyter_nbconvert/writers/stdout.py
index b816425..6970219 100644
--- a/jupyter_nbconvert/writers/stdout.py
+++ b/jupyter_nbconvert/writers/stdout.py
@@ -1,24 +1,13 @@
 """
 Contains Stdout writer
 """
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-#Copyright (c) 2013, the IPython Development Team.
-#
-#Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
-#
-#The full license is in the file COPYING.txt, distributed with this software.
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Imports
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Copyright (c) Jupyter Development Team.
+# Distributed under the terms of the Modified BSD License.
 
-from IPython.utils import io
+from jupyter_nbconvert.utils import io
 from .base import WriterBase
 
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-# Classes
-#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 class StdoutWriter(WriterBase):
     """Consumes output from nbconvert export...() methods and writes to the