diff --git a/assetman/compile.py b/assetman/compile.py
index eb77b4d..03afa2a 100755
--- a/assetman/compile.py
+++ b/assetman/compile.py
@@ -204,9 +204,9 @@ def version_dependency(path, manifest):
     if manifest.assets[path]['version']:
         return manifest.assets[path]['version']
     h = hashlib.md5()
-    h.update(get_file_hash(make_absolute_static_path(manifest.settings['static_dir'], path)))
+    h.update(get_file_hash(make_absolute_static_path(manifest.settings['static_dir'], path)).encode())
     for dep_path in manifest.assets[path]['deps']:
-        h.update(version_dependency(dep_path, manifest))
+        h.update(version_dependency(dep_path, manifest).encode())
     version = h.hexdigest()
     _, ext = os.path.splitext(path)
     manifest.assets[path]['version'] = version
diff --git a/assetman/compilers.py b/assetman/compilers.py
index 3bb618e..240ca73 100644
--- a/assetman/compilers.py
+++ b/assetman/compilers.py
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ def get_current_content_hash(self, manifest):
         for path in self.get_paths():
             relative_path = make_relative_static_path(self.settings['static_dir'], path)
             assert relative_path in manifest.assets, relative_path
-            h.update(manifest.assets[relative_path]['version'])
+            h.update(manifest.assets[relative_path]['version'].encode())
         return h.hexdigest()
 
     def get_paths(self):
diff --git a/assetman/managers.py b/assetman/managers.py
index 53943ba..c9f8bc1 100644
--- a/assetman/managers.py
+++ b/assetman/managers.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ def get_hash(self):
         """Gets the md5 hash for the URLs in this block of assets, which will
         be used to refer to the compiled assets in production.
         """
-        return hashlib.md5('\n'.join(self.rel_urls)).hexdigest()
+        return hashlib.md5('\n'.join(self.rel_urls).encode()).hexdigest()
 
     def get_ext(self):
         """Returns the file extension (without leading period) to use for the
diff --git a/assetman/tools.py b/assetman/tools.py
index 9dca3a7..3113266 100644
--- a/assetman/tools.py
+++ b/assetman/tools.py
@@ -21,9 +21,17 @@ def _crc(key):
 def _utf8(s):
     """encode a unicode string as utf-8"""
     if isinstance(s, str):
-        return s.encode("utf-8")
+        return s.encode("utf-8").decode()
+    if isinstance(s, bytes):
+        return s.decode("utf-8")
     assert isinstance(s, str), "_utf8 expected a str, not %r" % type(s)
     return s
+#def _utf8(s):
+#    """encode a unicode string as utf-8"""
+#    if isinstance(s, str):
+#        return s.encode("utf-8")
+#    assert isinstance(s, str), "_utf8 expected a str, not %r" % type(s)
+#    return s
 
 def iter_template_paths(template_dirs, template_ext):
     """Walks each directory in the given list of template directories,