diff --git a/compressor/filters/base.py b/compressor/filters/base.py
index d11a844..a49a529 100644
--- a/compressor/filters/base.py
+++ b/compressor/filters/base.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ import subprocess
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.core.files.temp import NamedTemporaryFile
 from django.utils.importlib import import_module
-from django.utils.encoding import smart_unicode
+from django.utils.encoding import smart_text
 from django.utils import six
 
 from compressor.conf import settings
@@ -185,4 +185,4 @@ class CompilerFilter(FilterBase):
             if self.outfile is not None:
                 self.outfile.close()
 
-        return smart_unicode(filtered)
+        return smart_text(filtered)
diff --git a/compressor/tests/test_filters.py b/compressor/tests/test_filters.py
index 0da914d..82838c7 100644
--- a/compressor/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/compressor/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ class PrecompilerTestCase(TestCase):
     def test_precompiler_output_unicode(self):
         command = '%s %s' % (sys.executable, self.test_precompiler)
         compiler = CompilerFilter(content=self.content, filename=self.filename, command=command)
-        self.assertEqual(type(compiler.input()), unicode)
+        self.assertEqual(type(compiler.input()), six.text_type)
 
 
 class CssMinTestCase(TestCase):