diff --git a/src/PIL/PdfParser.py b/src/PIL/PdfParser.py
index 7216e5b95..ca08bc864 100644
--- a/src/PIL/PdfParser.py
+++ b/src/PIL/PdfParser.py
@@ -269,18 +269,13 @@ class PdfDict(UserDict):
             else:
                 self.__dict__[key] = value
         else:
-            if isinstance(key, str):
-                key = key.encode("us-ascii")
-            self[key] = value
+            self[key.encode("us-ascii")] = value
 
     def __getattr__(self, key):
         try:
-            value = self[key]
+            value = self[key.encode("us-ascii")]
         except KeyError:
-            try:
-                value = self[key.encode("us-ascii")]
-            except KeyError:
-                raise AttributeError(key)
+            raise AttributeError(key)
         if isinstance(value, bytes):
             value = decode_text(value)
         if key.endswith("Date"):