diff --git a/lib/py/src/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.py b/lib/py/src/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.py
index e59e0dc..af64ec1 100644
--- a/lib/py/src/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.py
+++ b/lib/py/src/protocol/TBinaryProtocol.py
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@
 # under the License.
 #
 
-from .TProtocol import TType, TProtocolBase, TProtocolException, TProtocolFactory
-from ..compat import binary_to_str
 from struct import pack, unpack
 
+from .TProtocol import TType, TProtocolBase, TProtocolException, TProtocolFactory
+
 
 class TBinaryProtocol(TProtocolBase):
     """Binary implementation of the Thrift protocol driver."""
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@
             if self.strictRead:
                 raise TProtocolException(type=TProtocolException.BAD_VERSION,
                                          message='No protocol version header')
-            name = binary_to_str(self.trans.readAll(sz))
+            name = self.trans.readAll(sz).decode('utf-8')
             type = self.readByte()
             seqid = self.readI32()
         return (name, type, seqid)
diff --git a/lib/py/src/protocol/TCompactProtocol.py b/lib/py/src/protocol/TCompactProtocol.py
index 700e792..a3527cd 100644
--- a/lib/py/src/protocol/TCompactProtocol.py
+++ b/lib/py/src/protocol/TCompactProtocol.py
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@
 from .TProtocol import TType, TProtocolBase, TProtocolException, TProtocolFactory, checkIntegerLimits
 from struct import pack, unpack
 
-from ..compat import binary_to_str, str_to_binary
-
 __all__ = ['TCompactProtocol', 'TCompactProtocolFactory']
 
 CLEAR = 0
@@ -165,7 +163,7 @@
         if tseqid < 0:
             tseqid = 2147483648 + (2147483648 + tseqid)
         self.__writeVarint(tseqid)
-        self.__writeBinary(str_to_binary(name))
+        self.__writeBinary(bytes(name, 'utf-8'))
         self.state = VALUE_WRITE
 
     def writeMessageEnd(self):
@@ -346,7 +344,7 @@
         # however the sequence is actually signed...
         if seqid > 2147483647:
             seqid = -2147483648 - (2147483648 - seqid)
-        name = binary_to_str(self.__readBinary())
+        name = self.__readBinary().decode('utf-8')
         return (name, type, seqid)
 
     def readMessageEnd(self):
diff --git a/lib/py/src/protocol/TJSONProtocol.py b/lib/py/src/protocol/TJSONProtocol.py
index fef0cc9..a42aaa6 100644
--- a/lib/py/src/protocol/TJSONProtocol.py
+++ b/lib/py/src/protocol/TJSONProtocol.py
@@ -23,8 +23,6 @@
 import math
 import sys
 
-from ..compat import str_to_binary
-
 
 __all__ = ['TJSONProtocol',
            'TJSONProtocolFactory',
@@ -213,7 +211,7 @@
             escaped = ESCAPE_CHAR_VALS.get(s, s)
             json_str.append(escaped)
         json_str.append('"')
-        self.trans.write(str_to_binary(''.join(json_str)))
+        self.trans.write(bytes(''.join(json_str), 'utf-8'))
 
     def writeJSONNumber(self, number, formatter='{0}'):
         self.context.write()
@@ -313,7 +311,7 @@
                 utf8_bytes = bytearray([ord(character)])
                 while ord(self.reader.peek()) >= 0x80:
                     utf8_bytes.append(ord(self.reader.read()))
-                character = utf8_bytes.decode('utf8')
+                character = utf8_bytes.decode('utf-8')
             string.append(character)
 
             if highSurrogate:
diff --git a/lib/py/src/protocol/TProtocol.py b/lib/py/src/protocol/TProtocol.py
index ec71ab3..a7336c5 100644
--- a/lib/py/src/protocol/TProtocol.py
+++ b/lib/py/src/protocol/TProtocol.py
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
 from thrift.Thrift import TException, TType, TFrozenDict
 from thrift.transport.TTransport import TTransportException
-from ..compat import binary_to_str, str_to_binary
 
 import sys
 from itertools import islice
@@ -117,13 +116,13 @@
         pass
 
     def writeString(self, str_val):
-        self.writeBinary(str_to_binary(str_val))
+        self.writeBinary(bytes(str_val, 'utf-8'))
 
     def writeBinary(self, str_val):
         pass
 
     def writeUtf8(self, str_val):
-        self.writeString(str_val.encode('utf8'))
+        self.writeString(str_val.encode('utf-8'))
 
     def readMessageBegin(self):
         pass
@@ -180,13 +179,13 @@
         pass
 
     def readString(self):
-        return binary_to_str(self.readBinary())
+        return self.readBinary().decode('utf-8')
 
     def readBinary(self):
         pass
 
     def readUtf8(self):
-        return self.readString().decode('utf8')
+        return self.readString().decode('utf-8')
 
     def skip(self, ttype):
         if ttype == TType.BOOL: