diff --git a/examples/misc/svg_filter_line.py b/examples/misc/svg_filter_line.py
index 8dd6bf6c0138..95e6381295e2 100644
--- a/examples/misc/svg_filter_line.py
+++ b/examples/misc/svg_filter_line.py
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@
 ax.set_ylim(0., 1.)
 
 # save the figure as a string in the svg format.
-from StringIO import StringIO
-f = StringIO()
+from io import BytesIO
+f = BytesIO()
 plt.savefig(f, format="svg")