diff --git a/oslo_serialization/jsonutils.py b/oslo_serialization/jsonutils.py
index c4db1b9..e96c28a 100644
--- a/oslo_serialization/jsonutils.py
+++ b/oslo_serialization/jsonutils.py
@@ -52,12 +52,12 @@ _nasty_type_tests = [inspect.ismodule, inspect.isclass, inspect.ismethod,
                      inspect.iscode, inspect.isbuiltin, inspect.isroutine,
                      inspect.isabstract]
 
-_simple_types = (six.string_types + six.integer_types
+_simple_types = ((six.text_type,) + six.integer_types
                  + (type(None), bool, float))
 
 
 def to_primitive(value, convert_instances=False, convert_datetime=True,
-                 level=0, max_depth=3):
+                 level=0, max_depth=3, encoding='utf-8'):
     """Convert a complex object into primitives.
 
     Handy for JSON serialization. We can optionally handle instances,
@@ -92,6 +92,11 @@ def to_primitive(value, convert_instances=False, convert_datetime=True,
     if isinstance(value, _simple_types):
         return value
 
+    if isinstance(value, six.binary_type):
+        if six.PY3:
+            value = value.decode(encoding=encoding)
+        return value
+
     # It's not clear why xmlrpclib created their own DateTime type, but
     # for our purposes, make it a datetime type which is explicitly
     # handled
@@ -141,7 +146,8 @@ def to_primitive(value, convert_instances=False, convert_datetime=True,
                                       convert_instances=convert_instances,
                                       convert_datetime=convert_datetime,
                                       level=level,
-                                      max_depth=max_depth)
+                                      max_depth=max_depth,
+                                      encoding=encoding)
         if isinstance(value, dict):
             return {recursive(k): recursive(v)
                     for k, v in six.iteritems(value)}
diff --git a/oslo_serialization/tests/test_jsonutils.py b/oslo_serialization/tests/test_jsonutils.py
index 78c65d6..e90c4aa 100644
--- a/oslo_serialization/tests/test_jsonutils.py
+++ b/oslo_serialization/tests/test_jsonutils.py
@@ -113,6 +113,9 @@ class ToPrimitiveTestCase(test_base.BaseTestCase):
         super(ToPrimitiveTestCase, self).setUp()
         self.trans_fixture = self.useFixture(fixture.Translation())
 
+    def test_bytes(self):
+        self.assertEqual(jsonutils.to_primitive(b'abc'), 'abc')
+
     def test_list(self):
         self.assertEqual(jsonutils.to_primitive([1, 2, 3]), [1, 2, 3])