diff --git a/interfaces/python/igraph/compat.py b/interfaces/python/igraph/compat.py
index 7bb6616bb0..be085557e8 100644
--- a/interfaces/python/igraph/compat.py
+++ b/interfaces/python/igraph/compat.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 
 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
-Foundation, Inc.,  51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 
+Foundation, Inc.,  51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
 02110-1301 USA
 """
 
@@ -52,10 +52,18 @@ def setter(self, fset):
                 if v == self:
                     propname = k
                     break
-            cls_ns[propname] = property(self.fget, fset, self.fdel,
-                    self.__doc__)
+            cls_ns[propname] = property(self.fget, fset, self.fdel, self.__doc__)
             return cls_ns[propname]
 else:
     property = __builtins__["property"]
 
+#############################################################################
+# Providing BytesIO for Python 2.5
 
+try:
+    from io import BytesIO
+except ImportError:
+    # We are on Python 2.5 or earlier because Python 2.6 has a BytesIO
+    # class already
+    from cStringIO import StringIO
+    BytesIO = StringIO
diff --git a/interfaces/python/igraph/drawing/__init__.py b/interfaces/python/igraph/drawing/__init__.py
index 5f31d36d2b..3760d05f0a 100644
--- a/interfaces/python/igraph/drawing/__init__.py
+++ b/interfaces/python/igraph/drawing/__init__.py
@@ -14,14 +14,13 @@
 
 from __future__ import with_statement
 
-from cStringIO import StringIO
 from warnings import warn
 
 import os
 import platform
 import time
 
-from igraph.compat import property
+from igraph.compat import property, BytesIO
 from igraph.configuration import Configuration
 from igraph.drawing.colors import Palette, palettes
 from igraph.drawing.graph import DefaultGraphDrawer
@@ -346,7 +345,7 @@ def _repr_svg_(self):
 
         This method is used by IPython to display this plot inline.
         """
-        io = StringIO()
+        io = BytesIO()
         # Create a new SVG surface and use that to get the SVG representation,
         # which will end up in io
         surface = cairo.SVGSurface(io, self.bbox.width, self.bbox.height)
@@ -357,7 +356,7 @@ def _repr_svg_(self):
         context.show_page()
         surface.finish()
         # Return the raw SVG representation
-        return io.getvalue()
+        return io.getvalue().encode("utf-8")
 
     @property
     def bounding_box(self):
diff --git a/interfaces/python/igraph/remote/nexus.py b/interfaces/python/igraph/remote/nexus.py
index 785c3d588c..c8ec33ddc1 100644
--- a/interfaces/python/igraph/remote/nexus.py
+++ b/interfaces/python/igraph/remote/nexus.py
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 tags, L{NexusConnection.search} to search in the dataset descriptions, or
 L{NexusConnection.info} to show the info sheet of a dataset."""
 
-from cStringIO import StringIO
 from gzip import GzipFile
 from itertools import izip
 from textwrap import TextWrapper
@@ -19,7 +18,7 @@
 from urlparse import urlparse, urlunparse
 from textwrap import TextWrapper
 
-from igraph.compat import property
+from igraph.compat import property, BytesIO
 from igraph.configuration import Configuration
 from igraph.utils import multidict
 
@@ -44,7 +43,7 @@
 
 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
-Foundation, Inc.,  51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 
+Foundation, Inc.,  51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA
 02110-1301 USA
 """
 
@@ -198,8 +197,7 @@ def _ensure_uncompressed(response):
             compressed = bool(re.match(r'attachment; *filename=.*\.gz\"?$',
                     content_disp))
         if compressed:
-            return GzipFile(fileobj=StringIO(response.read()), mode="rb")
-        print response.headers
+            return GzipFile(fileobj=BytesIO(response.read()), mode="rb")
         return response
 
     def _get_response(self, path, params={}, compressed=False):
@@ -240,7 +238,7 @@ def _parse_text_response(response):
         whitespace.
 
         Examples:
-        
+
             >>> d = Nexus._parse_text_response("Id: 17\\nName: foo")
             >>> sorted(d.items())
             [('Id', '17'), ('Name', 'foo')]
@@ -297,7 +295,7 @@ def url(self, value):
 
 class NexusDatasetInfo(object):
     """Information about a dataset in the Nexus repository.
-    
+
     @undocumented: _update_from_multidict, vertices_edges"""
 
     def __init__(self, id=None, sid=None, name=None, networks=None,