diff --git a/signxml/__init__.py b/signxml/__init__.py
index 91783592..129ef628 100644
--- a/signxml/__init__.py
+++ b/signxml/__init__.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 
 from .exceptions import InvalidSignature, InvalidDigest, InvalidInput, InvalidCertificate  # noqa
 from .util import (bytes_to_long, long_to_bytes, strip_pem_header, add_pem_header, ensure_bytes, ensure_str, Namespace,
-                   XMLProcessor, iterate_pem, verify_x509_cert_chain)
+                   XMLProcessor, iterate_pem, verify_x509_cert_chain, bits_to_bytes_unit)
 from collections import namedtuple
 
 methods = Enum("Methods", "enveloped enveloping detached")
@@ -382,7 +382,7 @@ def sign(self, data, key=None, passphrase=None, cert=None, reference_uri=None, k
             if self.sign_alg.startswith("dsa-") or self.sign_alg.startswith("ecdsa-"):
                 # Note: The output of the DSA and ECDSA signers is a DER-encoded ASN.1 sequence of two DER integers.
                 (r, s) = utils.decode_dss_signature(signature)
-                int_len = key.key_size // 8
+                int_len = bits_to_bytes_unit(key.key_size)
                 signature = long_to_bytes(r, blocksize=int_len) + long_to_bytes(s, blocksize=int_len)
 
             signature_value_element.text = ensure_str(b64encode(signature))
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@ def _verify_signature_with_pubkey(self, signed_info_c14n, raw_signature, key_val
             raise NotImplementedError()
 
     def _encode_dss_signature(self, raw_signature, key_size_bits):
-        want_raw_signature_len = key_size_bits // 8 * 2
+        want_raw_signature_len = bits_to_bytes_unit(key_size_bits) * 2
         if len(raw_signature) != want_raw_signature_len:
             raise InvalidSignature(
                 "Expected %d byte SignatureValue, got %d"
diff --git a/signxml/util/__init__.py b/signxml/util/__init__.py
index 53c66e27..a826702b 100644
--- a/signxml/util/__init__.py
+++ b/signxml/util/__init__.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function, unicode_literals
 
+import math
 import os, sys, re, struct, textwrap
 from xml.etree import ElementTree as stdlibElementTree
 from base64 import b64encode, b64decode
@@ -92,6 +93,15 @@ def long_to_bytes(n, blocksize=0):
     return s
 
 
+def bits_to_bytes_unit(num_of_bits):
+    """bits_to_bytes_unit(num_of_bits:int) : int
+    Convert the unit of measurement for the argument from bits to bytes.
+
+    Rounds up to the nearest whole byte.
+    """
+    return int(math.ceil(num_of_bits / 8))
+
+
 pem_regexp = re.compile("{header}{nl}(.+?){footer}".format(header=PEM_HEADER, nl="\r{0,1}\n", footer=PEM_FOOTER),
                         flags=re.S)