diff --git a/compressor/filters/base.py b/compressor/filters/base.py
index ea1dd4c..d11a844 100644
--- a/compressor/filters/base.py
+++ b/compressor/filters/base.py
@@ -6,6 +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 import six
 
 from compressor.conf import settings
@@ -183,4 +184,5 @@ class CompilerFilter(FilterBase):
                 self.infile.close()
             if self.outfile is not None:
                 self.outfile.close()
-        return filtered
+
+        return smart_unicode(filtered)
diff --git a/compressor/tests/test_filters.py b/compressor/tests/test_filters.py
index 79c96d1..0da914d 100644
--- a/compressor/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/compressor/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ class PrecompilerTestCase(TestCase):
             charset=settings.FILE_CHARSET, command=command)
         self.assertEqual("body { color:#990; }%s" % os.linesep, compiler.input())
 
+    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)
+
 
 class CssMinTestCase(TestCase):
     def test_cssmin_filter(self):
diff --git a/docs/settings.txt b/docs/settings.txt
index c2d684c..a774e85 100644
--- a/docs/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/settings.txt
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ Caching settings
 
 .. attribute:: COMPRESS_CACHE_BACKEND
 
-    :Default: ``"default"`` or ``CACHE_BACKEND``
+    :Default: ``CACHES["default"]`` or ``CACHE_BACKEND``
 
     The backend to use for caching, in case you want to use a different cache
     backend for Django Compressor.