diff --git a/include/boost/python/converter/builtin_converters.hpp b/include/boost/python/converter/builtin_converters.hpp
index c2e01c03d..6c3ee2101 100644
--- a/include/boost/python/converter/builtin_converters.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/python/converter/builtin_converters.hpp
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ BOOST_PYTHON_TO_PYTHON_BY_VALUE(unsigned BOOST_PYTHON_LONG_LONG, ::PyLong_FromUn
 #if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03000000
 BOOST_PYTHON_TO_PYTHON_BY_VALUE(char, converter::do_return_to_python(x), &PyUnicode_Type)
 BOOST_PYTHON_TO_PYTHON_BY_VALUE(char const*, converter::do_return_to_python(x), &PyUnicode_Type)
-BOOST_PYTHON_TO_PYTHON_BY_VALUE(std::string, ::PyUnicode_FromStringAndSize(x.data(),implicit_cast<ssize_t>(x.size())), &PyUnicode_Type)
+BOOST_PYTHON_TO_PYTHON_BY_VALUE(std::string, ::PyBytes_FromStringAndSize(x.data(),implicit_cast<ssize_t>(x.size())), &PyByteArray_Type)
 #else
 BOOST_PYTHON_TO_PYTHON_BY_VALUE(char, converter::do_return_to_python(x), &PyString_Type)
 BOOST_PYTHON_TO_PYTHON_BY_VALUE(char const*, converter::do_return_to_python(x), &PyString_Type)