diff --git a/src/build_manifest.py b/src/build_manifest.py
index 32f9411ab84238b9a22e5f60826c30e81589c8bb..4a6b269c6677a4b6ccc359968bcb7b03c98d791a 100755
--- a/src/build_manifest.py
+++ b/src/build_manifest.py
@@ -58,4 +58,4 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
 
     xmlstr = minidom.parseString(ET.tostring(xmlout)).toprettyxml(indent="  ", encoding="UTF-8")
     with open(args.out, "w") as f:
-        f.write(xmlstr)
+        f.write(xmlstr.decode('utf-8'))