diff --git a/pdfminer/__init__.py b/pdfminer/__init__.py
index 43e8acf..d302d53 100644
--- a/pdfminer/__init__.py
+++ b/pdfminer/__init__.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 __version__ = '20140915'
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
diff --git a/pdfminer/converter.py b/pdfminer/converter.py
index b0efc0d..065f21e 100644
--- a/pdfminer/converter.py
+++ b/pdfminer/converter.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 import logging
 import re
 from .pdfdevice import PDFTextDevice
diff --git a/pdfminer/high_level.py b/pdfminer/high_level.py
index 5555fcb..b79a1c0 100644
--- a/pdfminer/high_level.py
+++ b/pdfminer/high_level.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """
 Functions that encapsulate "usual" use-cases for pdfminer, for use making
 bundled scripts and for using pdfminer as a module for routine tasks.
diff --git a/pdfminer/utils.py b/pdfminer/utils.py
index 6294e5d..696dd1d 100644
--- a/pdfminer/utils.py
+++ b/pdfminer/utils.py
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ INF = (1<<31) - 1
 import six  #Python 2+3 compatibility
 import chardet  # For str encoding detection in Py3
 
+if six.PY3:
+    unicode = str
+
 def make_compat_bytes(in_str):
     "In Py2, does nothing. In Py3, converts to bytes, encoding to unicode."
     assert isinstance(in_str, str)
@@ -20,7 +23,7 @@ def make_compat_bytes(in_str):
 
 def make_compat_str(in_str):
     "In Py2, does nothing. In Py3, converts to string, guessing encoding."
-    assert isinstance(in_str, (bytes, str))
+    assert isinstance(in_str, (bytes, str, unicode))
     if six.PY3 and isinstance(in_str, bytes):
         enc = chardet.detect(in_str)
         in_str = in_str.decode(enc['encoding'])
@@ -29,7 +32,7 @@ def make_compat_str(in_str):
 def compatible_encode_method(bytesorstring, encoding='utf-8', erraction='ignore'):
     "When Py2 str.encode is called, it often means bytes.encode in Py3. This does either."
     if six.PY2:
-        assert isinstance(bytesorstring, str), ("Error: Assumed was calling"
+        assert isinstance(bytesorstring, (str, unicode)), ("Error: Assumed was calling"
             " encode() on a string in Py2: {}").format(type(bytesorstring))
         return bytesorstring.encode(encoding, erraction)
     if six.PY3:
diff --git a/tests/test_tools_dumppdf.py b/tests/test_tools_dumppdf.py
index 4d240e9..ef93848 100644
--- a/tests/test_tools_dumppdf.py
+++ b/tests/test_tools_dumppdf.py
@@ -1,9 +1,16 @@
 #!/usr/bin/python
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+import six
 
 import nose, logging, os
 
-import tools.dumppdf as dumppdf
+if six.PY3:
+    from tools import dumppdf
+elif six.PY2:
+    import os, sys
+#    raise Exception("{}\n{}".format(sys.path, os.path.abspath(os.path.curdir)))
+    sys.path.append(os.path.abspath(os.path.curdir))
+    import tools.dumppdf as dumppdf
 
 path=os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))+'/'
 
@@ -43,4 +50,4 @@ class TestDumpPDF():
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     #import logging,sys,os,six
     #logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG, filename='%s_%d.%d.log'%(os.path.basename(__file__),sys.version_info[0],sys.version_info[1]))
-    nose.runmodule()
\ No newline at end of file
+    nose.runmodule()