diff --git a/PIL/ImageFont.py b/PIL/ImageFont.py
index 9341b1e96..a8ce3f913 100644
--- a/PIL/ImageFont.py
+++ b/PIL/ImageFont.py
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ class FreeTypeFont(object):
         return self.font.ascent, self.font.descent
 
     def getsize(self, text):
+        if bytes is not str and isinstance(text, bytes):
+            text = text.decode()
         size, offset = self.font.getsize(text)
         return (size[0] + offset[0], size[1] + offset[1])
 
diff --git a/Tests/test_imagefont.py b/Tests/test_imagefont.py
index 88f63e1cf..d48fd7138 100644
--- a/Tests/test_imagefont.py
+++ b/Tests/test_imagefont.py
@@ -455,11 +455,15 @@ try:
             self.assertEqual(t.font.x_ppem, 20)
             self.assertEqual(t.font.y_ppem, 20)
             self.assertEqual(t.font.glyphs, 4177)
-            self.assertEqual(t.getsize('A'), (12, 16))
-            self.assertEqual(t.getsize('AB'), (24, 16))
-            self.assertEqual(t.getsize('M'), (12, 16))
-            self.assertEqual(t.getsize('y'), (12, 20))
-            self.assertEqual(t.getsize('a'), (12, 16))
+            for text, size in [
+                ['A', (12, 16)],
+                ['AB', (24, 16)],
+                ['M', (12, 16)],
+                ['y', (12, 20)],
+                ['a', (12, 16)]
+            ]:
+                self.assertEqual(t.getsize(text), size)
+                self.assertEqual(t.getsize(text.encode()), size)
 
 
 except ImportError: