diff --git a/lib/request/basic.py b/lib/request/basic.py
index 810c946f2..000e36fdf 100644
--- a/lib/request/basic.py
+++ b/lib/request/basic.py
@@ -134,7 +134,8 @@ def decodePage(page, contentEncoding, contentType):
         if charset:
             kb.pageEncoding = charset
             page = getUnicode(page)
-    else:
+
+    if isinstance(page, str):
         page = getUnicode(page)
 
     return page