diff --git a/docs/release.rst b/docs/release.rst
index 1bf12b74..ddf468dd 100644
--- a/docs/release.rst
+++ b/docs/release.rst
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ Release notes
 -----
 
 * Handle (new) buffer protocol conforming types in ``Pickle.decode``.
-  By :user:`John Kirkham <jakirkham>`, :issue:`143`.
+  By :user:`John Kirkham <jakirkham>`, :issue:`143`, :issue:`150`.
 
 * Fix other ``VLen*`` encode() methods to return numpy arrays as well.
   By :user:`John Kirkham <jakirkham>`, :issue:`144`.
diff --git a/numcodecs/pickles.py b/numcodecs/pickles.py
index 7e1c26f7..9c22b9cb 100644
--- a/numcodecs/pickles.py
+++ b/numcodecs/pickles.py
@@ -6,11 +6,12 @@
 
 
 from .abc import Codec
-from .compat import PY2, ensure_bytes, ensure_contiguous_ndarray
+from .compat import PY2, ensure_contiguous_ndarray
 
 
 if PY2:  # pragma: py3 no cover
     import cPickle as pickle
+    from cStringIO import StringIO
 else:  # pragma: py2 no cover
     import pickle
 
@@ -48,12 +49,13 @@ def encode(self, buf):
         return pickle.dumps(buf, protocol=self.protocol)
 
     def decode(self, buf, out=None):
+        buf = ensure_contiguous_ndarray(buf)
+
         if PY2:  # pragma: py3 no cover
-            buf = ensure_bytes(buf)
+            dec = pickle.load(StringIO(buf))
         else:  # pragma: py2 no cover
-            buf = ensure_contiguous_ndarray(buf)
+            dec = pickle.loads(buf)
 
-        dec = pickle.loads(buf)
         if out is not None:
             np.copyto(out, dec)
             return out