diff --git a/src/utils/str.py b/src/utils/str.py
index eb5561231..ff48e4739 100644
--- a/src/utils/str.py
+++ b/src/utils/str.py
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ def dqrepr(s):
     """Returns a repr() of s guaranteed to be in double quotes."""
     # The wankers-that-be decided not to use double-quotes anymore in 2.3.
     # return '"' + repr("'\x00" + s)[6:]
-    return '"%s"' % s.encode('string_escape').replace('"', '\\"')
+    encoding = 'string_escape' if sys.version_info[0] < 3 else 'unicode_escape'
+    return '"%s"' % s.encode(encoding).decode().replace('"', '\\"')
 
 def quoted(s):
     """Returns a quoted s."""