diff --git a/scripts/mk_util.py b/scripts/mk_util.py
index 1c93bc39e..e25f33fa8 100644
--- a/scripts/mk_util.py
+++ b/scripts/mk_util.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ FPMATH="Default"
 FPMATH_FLAGS="-mfpmath=sse -msse -msse2"
 
 def check_output(cmd):
-    return str(subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]).rstrip('\r\n')
+    return (subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE).communicate()[0]).decode("utf-8").rstrip('\r\n')
 
 def git_hash():
     try: