diff --git a/pygraphviz/agraph.py b/pygraphviz/agraph.py
index d468aa40..ae43f6f5 100644
--- a/pygraphviz/agraph.py
+++ b/pygraphviz/agraph.py
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ def __init__(self, thing=None,
             # get the encoding from the "charset" graph attribute
             item = gv.agget(self.handle, b'charset')
             if item is not None:
-                self.encoding = item
+                self.encoding = item if type(item) is not bytes else item.decode('utf-8')
             else:
                 self.encoding = _DEFAULT_ENCODING
         else:
@@ -1742,8 +1742,8 @@ def __init__(self, handle, atype):
         ghandle = gv.agraphof(handle)
         root_handle = gv.agroot(ghandle) # get root graph
         try:
-            ah = gv.agattr(root_handle, 0, b'charset', None)
-            self.encoding = gv.agattrdefval(ah)
+            item = gv.agattrdefval(gv.agattr(root_handle, 0, b'charset', None))
+            self.encoding = item if type(item) is not bytes else item.decode('utf-8')
         except KeyError:
             self.encoding = _DEFAULT_ENCODING
 
@@ -1834,8 +1834,8 @@ def __init__(self, handle, atype):
         # get the encoding
         root_handle = gv.agroot(self.ghandle) # get root graph
         try:
-            ah = gv.agattr(root_handle, 0, b'charset', None)
-            self.encoding = gv.agattrdefval(ah)
+            item = gv.agattrdefval(gv.agattr(root_handle, 0, b'charset', None))
+            self.encoding = item if type(item) is not bytes else item.decode('utf-8')
         except KeyError:
             self.encoding = _DEFAULT_ENCODING