diff --git a/Images/lena.fli b/Images/lena.fli
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2c7367e22
Binary files /dev/null and b/Images/lena.fli differ
diff --git a/PIL/FliImagePlugin.py b/PIL/FliImagePlugin.py
index 4c16b0e04..6af61c6e6 100644
--- a/PIL/FliImagePlugin.py
+++ b/PIL/FliImagePlugin.py
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ class FliImageFile(ImageFile.ImageFile):
                 self._palette(palette, 0)
 
         palette = [o8(r)+o8(g)+o8(b) for (r,g,b) in palette]
-        self.palette = ImagePalette.raw("RGB", "".join(palette))
+        self.palette = ImagePalette.raw("RGB", b"".join(palette))
 
         # set things up to decode first frame
         self.frame = -1
diff --git a/Tests/test_file_fli.py b/Tests/test_file_fli.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4e06a732e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/test_file_fli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+from tester import *
+
+from PIL import Image
+
+# sample ppm stream
+file = "Images/lena.fli"
+data = open(file, "rb").read()
+
+def test_sanity():
+    im = Image.open(file)
+    im.load()
+    assert_equal(im.mode, "P")
+    assert_equal(im.size, (128, 128))
+    assert_equal(im.format, "FLI")