diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views.py
index b3c28f726d..003a82647e 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views.py
@@ -753,7 +753,8 @@ def upload_asset(request, org, course, coursename):
     # nomenclature since we're using a FileSystem paradigm here. We're just imposing
     # the Location string formatting expectations to keep things a bit more consistent
 
-    filename = request.FILES['file'].name
+    # unicode needed for cache equivalency
+    filename = unicode(request.FILES['file'].name)
     mime_type = request.FILES['file'].content_type
     filedata = request.FILES['file'].read()
 
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/content.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/content.py
index b84aa01c54..33af46c218 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/content.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/contentstore/content.py
@@ -29,12 +29,14 @@ class StaticContent(object):
 
     @staticmethod
     def generate_thumbnail_name(original_name):
-        return ('{0}'+XASSET_THUMBNAIL_TAIL_NAME).format(os.path.splitext(original_name)[0])
+        # unicode needed for cache equivalency
+        return unicode(('{0}'+XASSET_THUMBNAIL_TAIL_NAME).format(os.path.splitext(original_name)[0]))
 
     @staticmethod
     def compute_location(org, course, name, revision=None, is_thumbnail=False):
         name = name.replace('/', '_')
-        return Location([XASSET_LOCATION_TAG, org, course, 'asset' if not is_thumbnail else 'thumbnail', Location.clean(name), revision])
+        # unicode needed for cache equivalency
+        return Location([unicode(XASSET_LOCATION_TAG), org, course, u'asset' if not is_thumbnail else u'thumbnail', Location.clean(name), revision])
 
     def get_id(self):
         return StaticContent.get_id_from_location(self.location)