diff --git a/glanceclient/common/utils.py b/glanceclient/common/utils.py
index 18059bb1..8daaffff 100644
--- a/glanceclient/common/utils.py
+++ b/glanceclient/common/utils.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def arg(*args, **kwargs):
 def schema_args(schema_getter, omit=None):
     omit = omit or []
     typemap = {
-        'string': str,
+        'string': encodeutils.safe_decode,
         'integer': int,
         'boolean': strutils.bool_from_string,
         'array': list
diff --git a/glanceclient/tests/unit/test_utils.py b/glanceclient/tests/unit/test_utils.py
index c991f3ce..18c54753 100644
--- a/glanceclient/tests/unit/test_utils.py
+++ b/glanceclient/tests/unit/test_utils.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import sys
 
 import mock
+from oslo_utils import encodeutils
 import six
 # NOTE(jokke): simplified transition to py3, behaves like py2 xrange
 from six.moves import range
@@ -152,7 +153,7 @@ class TestUtils(testtools.TestCase):
         decorated = utils.schema_args(schema_getter())(dummy_func)
         arg, opts = decorated.__dict__['arguments'][0]
         self.assertIn('--test', arg)
-        self.assertEqual(str, opts['type'])
+        self.assertEqual(encodeutils.safe_decode, opts['type'])
 
         decorated = utils.schema_args(schema_getter('integer'))(dummy_func)
         arg, opts = decorated.__dict__['arguments'][0]
@@ -162,7 +163,7 @@ class TestUtils(testtools.TestCase):
         decorated = utils.schema_args(schema_getter(enum=True))(dummy_func)
         arg, opts = decorated.__dict__['arguments'][0]
         self.assertIn('--test', arg)
-        self.assertEqual(str, opts['type'])
+        self.assertEqual(encodeutils.safe_decode, opts['type'])
         self.assertIn('None, opt-1, opt-2', opts['help'])
 
     def test_iterable_closes(self):