diff --git a/bin/swh-hash-file b/bin/swh-hash-file
index 7ad22a8..c30de78 100755
--- a/bin/swh-hash-file
+++ b/bin/swh-hash-file
@@ -1,32 +1,32 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python3
 
 # Copyright (C) 2018  The Software Heritage developers
 # See the AUTHORS file at the top-level directory of this distribution
 # License: GNU General Public License version 3, or any later version
 # See top-level LICENSE file for more information
 
 import sys
 
 from swh.model.from_disk import Content
 from swh.model.hashutil import hash_to_hex
 
 
 HASH_ALGO = 'sha1_git'
 
 
 def hash_file(fname):
-    return hash_to_hex(Content.from_file(path=fname).hash)
+    return hash_to_hex(Content.from_file(path=fname.encode()).hash)
 
 
 def main(fnames):
     for f in fnames:
         print(f, hash_file(f), sep='\t')
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     fnames = sys.argv[1:]
     if not fnames:
         print('Usage: swh-hash-file FILE...')
         sys.exit(2)
 
     main(fnames)