diff --git a/canvasapi/file.py b/canvasapi/file.py
index ea68a52d..81439f6a 100644
--- a/canvasapi/file.py
+++ b/canvasapi/file.py
@@ -32,11 +32,15 @@ def download(self, location):
         with open(location, "wb") as file_out:
             file_out.write(response.content)
 
-    def get_contents(self):
+    def get_contents(self, binary=False):
         """
         Download the contents of this file.
+        Pass binary=True to return a bytes object instead of a str.
 
-        :rtype: str
+        :rtype: str or bytes
         """
         response = self._requester.request("GET", _url=self.url)
-        return response.text
+        if binary:
+            return response.content
+        else:
+            return response.text
diff --git a/canvasapi/requester.py b/canvasapi/requester.py
index fbdfee35..2d236ce2 100644
--- a/canvasapi/requester.py
+++ b/canvasapi/requester.py
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ def request(
             currently only the POST request of GraphQL is using this parameter.
             For all other methods it's just passed and ignored.
         :type json: `bool`
-        :rtype: str
+        :rtype: :class:`requests.Response`
         """
         full_url = _url if _url else "{}{}".format(self.base_url, endpoint)
 
@@ -217,9 +217,14 @@ def request(
         )
 
         try:
-            logger.debug("Data: {data}".format(data=pformat(response.json())))
-        except ValueError:
-            logger.debug("Data: {data}".format(data=pformat(response.text)))
+            logger.debug(
+                "Data: {data}".format(data=pformat(response.content.decode("utf-8")))
+            )
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            logger.debug("Data: {data}".format(data=pformat(response.content)))
+        except AttributeError:
+            # response.content is None
+            logger.debug("No data")
 
         # Add response to internal cache
         if len(self._cache) > 4:
diff --git a/tests/test_file.py b/tests/test_file.py
index 97048a5f..ed7a5693 100644
--- a/tests/test_file.py
+++ b/tests/test_file.py
@@ -53,3 +53,5 @@ def test_contents_file(self, m):
         register_uris({"file": ["file_contents"]}, m)
         contents = self.file.get_contents()
         self.assertEqual(contents, '"Hello there"')
+        contents_binary = self.file.get_contents(binary=True)
+        self.assertEqual(contents_binary, b'"Hello there"')
diff --git a/tests/test_requester.py b/tests/test_requester.py
index cf85bc8a..df59eb99 100644
--- a/tests/test_requester.py
+++ b/tests/test_requester.py
@@ -32,6 +32,18 @@ def test_request_get(self, m):
         response = self.requester.request("GET", "fake_get_request")
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
 
+    def test_request_get_binary(self, m):
+        m.register_uri(
+            "GET",
+            settings.BASE_URL_WITH_VERSION + "get_binary_data",
+            content=b"\xff\xff\xff",
+            status_code=200,
+            headers={},
+        )
+
+        response = self.requester.request("GET", "get_binary_data")
+        self.assertEqual(response.content, b"\xff\xff\xff")
+
     def test_request_get_datetime(self, m):
         date = datetime.today()