diff --git a/glymur/jp2box.py b/glymur/jp2box.py
index 81d8e6c..f05e9de 100644
--- a/glymur/jp2box.py
+++ b/glymur/jp2box.py
@@ -1854,7 +1854,7 @@ class XMLBox(Jp2kBox):
         except UnicodeDecodeError as ude:
             # Possibly bad string of bytes to begin with.
             # Try to search for <?xml and go from there.
-            decl_start = read_buffer.find('<?xml')
+            decl_start = read_buffer.find(b'<?xml')
             if decl_start > -1:
                 text = read_buffer[decl_start:].decode('utf-8')
             else:
diff --git a/glymur/test/test_jp2k.py b/glymur/test/test_jp2k.py
index 1ab5b29..4f06745 100644
--- a/glymur/test/test_jp2k.py
+++ b/glymur/test/test_jp2k.py
@@ -147,7 +147,6 @@ class TestBadButRecoverableXmlFile(unittest.TestCase):
 
                 # Write out 48 good bytes constituting the XML payload.
                 write_buffer = b'<?xml version="1.0"?><test>this is a test</test>'
-                write_buffer = write_buffer.encode()
                 tfile.write(write_buffer)
 
                 # Get the rest of the input file.