diff --git a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/import_export.py b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/import_export.py
index 8d7f1aac76..df6d960bba 100644
--- a/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/import_export.py
+++ b/cms/djangoapps/contentstore/views/import_export.py
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ def import_course(request, org, course, name):
                     sf.write("Extracting")
 
                 tar_file = tarfile.open(temp_filepath)
-                tar_file.extractall(course_dir + '/')
+                tar_file.extractall((course_dir + '/').encode('utf-8'))
 
                 with open(status_file, 'w+') as sf:
                     sf.write("Verifying")
diff --git a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml_importer.py b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml_importer.py
index a9a7601e33..352258d93f 100644
--- a/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml_importer.py
+++ b/common/lib/xmodule/xmodule/modulestore/xml_importer.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ def import_static_content(modules, course_loc, course_data_path, static_content_
             try:
                 content_path = os.path.join(dirname, filename)
                 if verbose:
-                    log.debug('importing static content {0}...'.format(content_path))
+                    log.debug('importing static content {0}...'.format(content_path.encode("utf-8")))
 
                 fullname_with_subpath = content_path.replace(static_dir, '')  # strip away leading path from the name
                 if fullname_with_subpath.startswith('/'):