diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 5f3d22e56..270651d4e 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ setup(
     description='Python Imaging Library (Fork)',
     long_description=(
         _read('README.rst') + b'\n' +
-        _read('CHANGES.rst')),
+        _read('CHANGES.rst')).decode('utf-8'),
     author='Alex Clark (fork author)',
     author_email='aclark@aclark.net',
     url='http://python-imaging.github.io/',