diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py
index a5f7d4aaf0..dc0bfe373d 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/tests/test_transcripts_utils.py
@@ -880,7 +880,7 @@ class TestGetTranscript(SharedModuleStoreTestCase):
             language
         )
 
-        self.assertEqual(content.decode('utf-8'), self.subs[language])
+        self.assertEqual(content, self.subs[language])
         self.assertEqual(file_name, expected_filename)
         self.assertEqual(mimetype, self.srt_mime_type)