1 files changed, 5 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/fastimport/helpers.py b/fastimport/helpers.py
index c27c436..abb7014 100644
--- a/fastimport/helpers.py
+++ b/fastimport/helpers.py
@@ -99,9 +99,12 @@ def is_inside_any(dir_list, fname):
 
 
 def utf8_bytes_string(s):
-    """Convert a string to a bytes string encoded in utf8"""
+    """Convert a string to a bytes string (if necessary, encode in utf8)"""
     if sys.version_info[0] == 2:
-        return s.encode('utf8')
+        if isinstance(s, str):
+            return s
+        else:
+            return s.encode('utf8')
     else:
         if isinstance(s, str):
             return bytes(s, encoding='utf8')