diff --git a/Lib/test/test_fileio.py b/Lib/test/test_fileio.py
index 5bad843..064ec0c 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_fileio.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_fileio.py
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@
         # verify readinto
         self.f.write(bytes([1, 2]))
         self.f.close()
-        a = array('b', 'x'*10)
+        a = array('b', b'x'*10)
         self.f = _fileio._FileIO(TESTFN, 'r')
         n = self.f.readinto(a)
         self.assertEquals(array('b', [1, 2]), a[:n])