diff --git a/lbrynet/cryptstream/CryptBlob.py b/lbrynet/cryptstream/CryptBlob.py
index 89560968c..058508371 100644
--- a/lbrynet/cryptstream/CryptBlob.py
+++ b/lbrynet/cryptstream/CryptBlob.py
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ class CryptStreamBlobMaker(object):
         max bytes are written. num_bytes_to_write is the number
         of bytes that will be written from data in this call
         """
+        if not isinstance(data, bytes):
+            data = data.encode()
         max_bytes_to_write = MAX_BLOB_SIZE - self.length - 1
         done = False
         if max_bytes_to_write <= len(data):