diff --git a/brltty/Bindings/Python/brlapi.pyx b/brltty/Bindings/Python/brlapi.pyx
index 94cced8..8973d5d 100644
--- a/brltty/Bindings/Python/brlapi.pyx
+++ b/brltty/Bindings/Python/brlapi.pyx
@@ -497,7 +497,7 @@ cdef class Connection:
 		if (type(dots) == unicode):
 			dots = dots.encode('latin1')
 		if (len(dots) < dispSize):
-			dots = dots + b"".center(dispSize - len(dots), '\0')
+			dots = dots + "".center(dispSize - len(dots), '\0')
 		c_dots = dots
 		c_udots = <unsigned char *>c_dots
 		c_brlapi.Py_BEGIN_ALLOW_THREADS